Evan Easley (12)

Are you a morning or a night person?

“I think I am a morning person … but I enjoy the nighttime more,” Easley said. “I enjoy waking up early … I don’t stay up late or anything, but I think my favorite hours of the day are the last three hours before I go to bed. Just because that is the time [when] I do my mindfulness stuff … and that makes [nighttime] very fun. However, I do really enjoy waking up in the morning and walking and just kind of looking outside … or journaling.”

If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

“I would probably be a bird,” Easley said. “I don’t really know [what] kind of bird [but] probably a blue jay or something like that … A lot of times, there [are] birds outside my window, and because my workspace is right in front of my window, I often just look outside and it’s nice to see birds flying around. The symbol of a bird flying is a nice symbol of freedom. I feel like it resonates with me just because a lot of the time, I am just in my room working … So it’s nice to be like ‘Wow … life isn’t just this assignment, like there is freedom and beauty out there.’”

Is freedom different from independence when you think about birds?

“I think I am a very independent person — or I try to be,” Easley said. “I try to do most things on my own, just because, both, I don’t want to impose on people and I like to be a person who can just live my life … But I think when it comes to me looking at birds, I think it’s just the way, they are physically very mobile like they can fly throughout the air and everything like that … I think it is more about the free aspect where you just go anywhere in that kind of sense rather than the independence aspect.”

Annie Wu (12)

What are your favorite books?

“I think the most recent ‘Hunger Games’ book, [‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’], that came out was really good,” Wu said. “I liked how it gave a new perspective on something that we didn’t know [about] before about that series.”

What is your favorite subject to study, and why?

“Probably Calculus [BC] because it’s applicable in so many different subjects and [because] it’s just fun to do,” Wu said. “Integration, when I understand how to do it finally, it’s really calming to do. [Calculus is] also something new besides Algebra or Geometry.”

Amy Zhang (12)

What is your favorite midnight snack?

“Ramen is a classic, [more specifically] Shin Ramen,” Zhang said. “I [also] like pretzels with hummus and sesame oil mixed in.”

What extracurriculars are you a part of?

“Latin Club, [J]ROTC, HOSA, Science Olympiad, Debate, Facing History,” Zhang said.

What would you say is one memory that sticks out from one of your extracurriculars?

“Probably my ninth grade HOSA trip or my 11th grade Seventh Brigade [trip],” Zhang said. “Both of those were just out-of-town trips that were really fun, they were full of energy. Even though there were some … bumps in the road — like it wasn’t a completely perfect trip — but my overall memory of them are completely positive.”

Catherine Cheng (12)

What are your favorite movies?

“I really like ‘Legally Blonde’ — that is probably my favorite movie, as of now,” Cheng said. “I am a pretty girly person, and I like the idea of seeing someone not having to sacrifice their femininity or their personality to succeed in [a] really male-dominated space.”

What do you think is the best thing about being a Spartan?

“I think having the diversity that we have at our school,” Cheng said. “We have so many different kinds of people from different backgrounds, and we have so many resources too. So we can really choose what pace you want to be at.”

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?

“If I didn’t have any consequences, I’d say the moon,” Cheng said. “I think it would be pretty interesting to see what it looks like from there. On Earth, if I were to travel anywhere, [it would be] pretty much anywhere if I had my friends with me.”

Emily Zhang (12)

Who is your favorite teacher at White Station?

“My favorite teacher is Mr. Mullins because he is just an extremely dedicated person,” Zhang said. “He’s taught Physics II — I’ve asked him for a little help on Optics for the Science Olympiad event. He’s just willing to help with any kind of subject you have, and he is really knowledgeable too. I know one of my friends asked him about Physics I, which he doesn’t teach, but he went on FaceTime with her for an hour over the weekend just teaching her, and he would come to school sick just to teach us.”

How do you spend a typical weekend?

“I usually wake up at [noon], so half of the day is gone, but I think waking up late makes me even more productive in the afternoon,” Zhang said. “So I work on homework, or I do competition math or I do extracurriculars like Memphis Youth Symphony rehearsal [on Sundays].”

Take a look at the other National Merit Semi-finalists here: https://whitestationscroll.net/10960/student-life/national-merit-semi-finalists/