Chris Maurice
For this edition of Coffee with Chris, I sat down with junior Will Vander Weele, who told me how sick he is of the cold weather. It didn’t help that there was snow outside on the ground at Starbucks as I interviewed him. However, he doesn’t let the cold weather get in the way of his sense of style. You can always see Will walking down the halls rocking out in whatever preppy attire he is wearing. Fortunately, Will did get a taste of warm weather over Project Week when he traveled to Costa Rica with Ms. McCarthy, Mr. Stroup, and a totally awesome group of kids, including myself.
In Costa Rica, Will went kayaking, whitewater rafting, zip lining, and experienced many other exciting and adventurous activities, while also learning about the diverse environment of the country. Will even got to meet Costa Rican children, and because he knows French, not Spanish, there was a large language barrier. When he first arrived and greeted the children, he said, “Hola frijoles!” which translates to “Hello beans,” clearly not what he meant to say. Will could really only give a thumbs up and say things like “gracias” or “me llama Will” to the kids, who still laughed at him. Despite this, he had a great time on the trip, his favorite part being the opportunities to try new things. He is not usually very adventuresome so he said it was nice to get a little out of his comfort zone. His least favorite part, however, was losing his wallet, which added a lot of unnecessary stress to the end of a great week. Thankfully, it was found and returned to him safely here in Chicago.
Over spring break, Will took the opportunity to visit colleges. He went from Virginia to North Carolina and saw many different types of schools, which allowed him to determine what he did and didn’t want in a college. After three weeks, Will was somewhat ready to return to school and meet up with friends. Will said that the process of looking at colleges is much more stressful than school itself and is glad to be back!
Even though spring break just ended, Will is excited for summer to come, as he will be doing a summer program in DC about the fundamentals of business, a topic that Will enjoys. His current favorite class is Math and Finance, and next year, Will wants to take AP Statistics, Economics, AP Calculus, Writer’s Workshop, Punching the Clock, and French Through the Media. Will is focused on finishing off this year strong, especially since the beginning of the year has gone by super fast, and it’s all been a blur.
Will and I also talked about Lollapalooza and the stress of buying tickets. Although Will won’t be attending, he still feels this year will be great at Lollapalooza. We then moved from Lollapalooza to Latinpalooza, a subject about which Will has no idea. On a separate subject, Will told me he is also an avid golfer. With the Masters this past week, Will said it was the best tournament of the year, and though he really wanted Jordan Spieth to win but overall, he was happy that an American was able to grab the green jacket.
Overall, Will is a really nice guy. I asked him to pick three words to describe himself. Though one might say preppy, Will chose enthusiastic, fun, and caring – caring enough to let me interview him for this article! Will did not hold anything back, and is an honest guy. If you see him in the halls, you should definitely say hello, or at least compliment him on how great his Sperrys/Patagonia jacket/polo looks.
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