Q: What is your earliest memory?

Getting a brick dropped on my head. I was one year old and I was at some party that my parents took me to. I don’t remember much but I do remember looking up, and seeing a red brick falling on my face. I have a scar on my forehead from it to this day.

Q: What are you proudest of?

Joining the Marine Corp. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine and I’ve been working on it since eighth grade; all of my physical and academic challenges have really helped me.

Q: If you were going to lose all your memories tomorrow, what is one that you’d want to keep forever?

It’d have to be going to Puerto Rico with my family.

Q: What is your favorite food?

Dude, just ramen. Oh, and white Cheez-Its.

Q: When have you ever felt most alone?

The time when I felt most alone was freshman year at Skyline. I talked to no one and I sat at the lunch table by myself, for an entire year. No exaggeration.

Q: What’s your favorite color?

Blue, but I look good in red.

Q: What is your favorite characteristic of yourself?

I’m a very honest, upfront person. If I have a problem, I will confront it. I either have courage or stupidity, but I’m gonna call it courage.

Q: What defines you the most?

I will be an honest person. When you’re honest, you can hurt people’s feelings or you can make people feel better.

Q: Who has been the kindest to you, and how did they display it?

My mother. She raised us [brother]. She raised two boys by herself, and she’s always been there for us through everything. Thick and thin, and that’s not even a joke. She’s always been there.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish in the future?

I would like to get my military pension from the Marine Corps, 20 years of active duty. Afterwards, either join the FBI, DEA, or become a chief at a fire department.

Q: Why do those things call out to you the most?

They call out to me the most because one of the perks of being in the Marine Corps, and for such a long time too, is that you get the advantage of having any governmental job that’s given to you because you already have the clearance and discipline for it. You’ve already been through the training, and it would be a perk, due to the fact that if I get my military pension and it goes the way that it goes, I can actually just retire at the age of 38 and not work. I’d chose to work because I’d like to keep myself active.

Q: What’s your favorite subject in school?

I’ve always been interested in chemistry. Chemistry and algebra. It’s the satisfaction that one gets from balancing compounds and also doing equations when you get the right answer. It makes you feel good.

Q: What do you love most in the world, and why?

What do I love most in the world? As of now, my family. I love them. They’ve always been there for me. I had to mature very quickly at the age of seven. Even if I was still immature, I had to mature for my family. Especially for my little brother. I always be the responsible man for my mom. It’s given me a perspective in life that is to be grateful for everything in your life and everything that you have. Don’t take anything for granted.

Q: Why do you think that being grateful is the best way to live life?

Once you learn to not take anything for granted, you learn that there are so many opportunities out there. You learn that you can take whatever opportunity you want, and that you will have an amazing outcome from it. People who are entitled or people who are not fortunate should always seek out for the better. Not to better their opportunities, but to better themselves, I guess I would say.

Q: How do you want to be remembered?

Honestly, I don’t. I only want to be remembered by the people who love me. Anyone else, I don’t care. I want them to remember me as someone who always had a good place in their heart, even if I don’t always show it.

Q: What important lessons have you learned and how did you learn them?

I learned that if you make dumb choices, have good friends or people around you. When you get caught in the act, not many people are gonna be there for you. You’re going to be stuck there with your pants down. If you’re gonna do something stupid, do it right. I learned it by confession, I guess. I learned that I could really only trust those I grew up with. No disrespect to my cousins, but I’ve learned that doing certain things that are stupid. Don’t do them if you’re going to go home in a couple minutes.

Q: How has your life differed than how you imagined when you were a kid?

My life hasn’t really differed from what I’d imagined. I always imagined being in the military. I just never really knew which branch, but then I found the the Marines and I learned more about it.

Q: What did you want to be as a kid?

Soldier because I always had a warrior at heart, even if I didn’t have the physical, academic, or mental attributes of one. I always had a place inside of my heart that belonged to a fighter.

Q: What influenced your childhood dream?

Like I said. Growing up, living without a father, moving up to Michigan, I always had a hot temper, always had to deal with my emotions. Thankfully, I learned how to deal with them on my own, instead of taking it out on other people. It let me understand and to grasp the concept of control.

Q: Why do you think control is important?

Control is important because if you lose your control, a lot of things could go wrong; you could pass up a lot of opportunities, you become impulsive and you learn that being impulsive will ultimately destroy you. Being impulsive could be good in the sense where if you see something as an opportunity, you take it. But sometimes impulsive behavior can also mean making bad choices. Certain choices don’t usually come out right. Being impulsive isn’t good or bad, it’s just a very risky thing to do if you want to do something logically.

Q: What is your biggest regret?

My biggest regret is getting close to my father. He wasn’t a good man. He showed me everything I shouldn’t be. Growing up, I used him as an example of what not to be or to do. He still continues to make bad choices today.

Q: What is your favorite season?

Favorite season? Has to be winter. Just kidding. I hate winter. Summer. The only reason why I only like summer is because it’s up here in Michigan. Down south, I like all the seasons. Winter, fall, summer, spring are all my favorites because down there, they stay over 50.

Q: What’s your favorite animal?

Lizards and pugs.