What is your name and grade? I’m Naod Tilahun, and I’m a junior.
What is something that brings you joy? I love playing with my friends and I love running. Me and running have, you know, a love-hate relationship. But, I love running with friends and competing with them, and I love getting its rewards, like prizes and other things.
Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? I’m in the middle, but I probably lean more toward being an extrovert, because I love talking to people. Like, getting to learn more about new people is fun. And, I feel like being an introvert is boring, because you’re not talking to as many people, and you’re seeing the same people every single day.
What would be the worst age to stay forever, and why? Anywhere past the age of 30, because I feel like by that time, it’s just a lot more work—you have a job now, you’ve got to pay bills. So that’s got to be the worst, because you don’t really have as much fun as you would during your teenage or college years.
What is your greatest accomplishment in life? Getting under six minutes in the mile. As a freshman, I never thought that was going to be possible, and even though now I’m well below that, I feel like that changed me as a runner. It made me want to see how far I could go after I went under six and it really made me happy.
What phone app are you most embarrassed to have? So, a lot of people hate on me or make fun of me for using Telegram. But, I don’t actually use it—it’s just what my church makes us use and so, yeah.
What’s something that you wish you could apologize for but haven’t? Okay, so I lied to my Sunday school teacher one time about doing something really bad. I mean, I don’t know—it depends on how you take it, whether it’s bad or not. At the time, I felt guilty, but now it doesn’t really matter. Basically, she was giving out snacks, and, you know, I took a few more than I should have taken, and I felt really bad, although now I could care less. I told her afterward, and she forgave me, but I wish I had told her before that or that I hadn’t done it at all. I felt very guilty.
What nicknames do you have, and where do they come from? I get called Nana by some of my friends. My brother used to call me that when he was younger because he couldn’t pronounce my name, and when my friends heard him call me that, they started calling me it, too.
What is the biggest red flag in a person? When people are two-faced. Like, when they’ll act cool to you and then go and talk behind your back; I just don’t mess with that. It hurts more than people think it does. For example, you might really think about someone: Oh, that’s my friend. And you’ll talk to them for a while, but then after that, the person will go off and talk behind your back, and you’ll feel really bad. I wouldn’t want that to ever happen to anyone.
Who inspires you in life? I’d probably say my family, my mom and dad. They’ve sacrificed a lot for me, and I feel like sometimes I take that for granted, because 99% of the reason for why I’m here in this world right now, and why I’ve made it this far, is because of them. You know, they’re immigrants, they moved from Ethiopia, and they really sacrificed a ton, like their education, for me and my siblings to live our lives as we do.
What’s something about you that nobody knows? A lot of people don’t know that I’m actually a pretty charming guy. Just kidding. But really, though, actually, a lot of people probably wouldn’t think that I can cook. Honestly, I’m not a bad cook. I make a lot of different foods at home and I would gladly make something for someone if they asked.
What is your motto in life? There’s this one line I really like: “Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.” Yesterday—you can’t really change the past; we know what happened yesterday. Tomorrow—nobody knows about the future; we can’t change that. And then today is what we can do right now; you know what you can change right now. So that’s why they literally call it the present, because it’s just such a gift to be blessed with another day on this earth.
Who’s someone whom you’d like to shout-out? I’d like to shout-out my cousin Nathan. He’s pushed me to do a lot of things—for example, I don’t think I ever would have done track and field or cross country if it wasn’t for him. He motivated me, even when I wasn’t that good at it. I think I’m starting to get better at it now, and he was the one who gave me that final push to give things a try, even if I don’t know how they’re gonna go. I want to shout him out for that.
Do you like calling or texting more? I like calling people, because I like hearing people’s voices, and I feel like I can get their reaction more when talking to them on the phone. Like, they could start laughing or something, while on text, you wouldn’t even know. That’s the type of thing I love to hear over call.
What is a nostalgic memory that you wish you could experience again? When I was a lot younger, during the Christmas season, we’d go to my dad’s workplace when he used to work at this hotel. We’d go there like two days before Christmas, and there were all these kids over there, and I’d play with them in this big bouncy house and there was a whole bunch of food. It was really fun.
If you could meet anyone in the world, alive or deceased, who would it be? My grandpa. I never actually got to meet him—he died before I was born—so I feel like it’d be really cool if I could meet him and talk to him. I think he’d definitely be a very cool person to talk to, but I guess we’ll never know.
Is there something else that you want to tell readers that I didn’t mention? I want people to like, know that I’m tough in basketball. I’m really tough in basketball. I’m a hooper. Yeah, I’m really tough.
