“Can you explain the meaning behind your painting?”

“Yeah! It’s about 9/11 and this shows the twin towers. It’s like a comic thing. It’s about the decision before the end. Either you can want to die inside the building or you want to jump.

I think I would jump.

I actually don’t like it. It still needs work.”

“What was the inspiration behind it?”

“I read a book called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close that was about 9/11.”

“If you knew that you had only one year left to live, what would you change, or not change, about the way you live?”

“I think I would travel and see my dad’s side of the family. They’re in Spain, Denmark, India, all over the world. I don’t get to see them often. That’s what I would do.”

“If you could give one message to the students in the school, what would you say?”

“Balance. balance between socializing and doing work. Sometimes I spent more time socializing, but I think finding balance is important.”

“How are you feeling about the end of high school?”

“I’m scared. I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know what I’ll be feeling or how I’ll react when Monday comes. I’m nervous too. There are some things I regret not doing in past years.

Like I don’t know how things would have turned out if I had done some things differently. I could have been more social in grade 9 and made more friends. But i like my life now, and I’ll try to keep in contact with my friends.”