By Amani Kimball-McKavish

Do you dread awkward icebreaker activities at the beginning of meetings? Do you have trouble coming up with facts during two truths and a lie? Some in our community clearly do not. Collegiate Upper Schoolers and staff members shared their many hidden talents, passions, and unique experiences that you may not know about. Here are some highlights: 

Kadin Salhab (‘22) has various interests. He is a bowler who has his own reactive ball and is practicing a two-handed bowling style. He also plays table tennis and built his own custom racquet. According to Salhab, he has his own specific table tennis playing style. In addition, he enjoys playing airsoft and recording himself on his Twitch channel. He also has a NeoPixel lightsaber. NeoPixel lightsabers have special LED lights inside of them that allow users to choose a wider range of colors and customizable light sequences. 

A video of Salhab’s NeoPixel lightsaber in action. Video courtesy of Kadin Salhab. 

Alice Hallock (‘22) has an incredibly convincing fake sneeze. While at camp one summer, Hallock and her friends were creating a skit to perform in front of the rest of the campers. There was a scene in which someone had to sneeze, so everyone in her group went around practicing their fake sneeze. It turned out that Hallock had a gift for fake sneezing, and she was the designated fake sneezer for her group’s skit. Hallock will “sometimes do it in class to see if people will say ‘Bless you,’ just to see if I’ve still got it.”

David Cheon (‘22), who showed off his singing talents during Tom Deluca’s hypnotism show, was an All-District Chorus singer in 8th Grade. In Middle School, Cheon and his friends all took chorus as a joke, because they thought they could turn the experience into something fun. They enjoyed their year singing in class and spending time as a group. However, the bright, sunny skies quickly turned gray as Cheon and four other singers were chosen as All-District. Cheon was blindsided by this news and was forced to sing at a concert with over 100 other people.

Taylor Domson (‘23) has ridden on the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. It is located at New Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure and is called Kingda Ka. It stands at 456 feet tall and reaches 128 miles per hour. Riders of Kingda Ka experience 5 G’s, which means they feel five times their body weight. Domson said, “your whole face gets pulled back” as you’re riding. Domson also explained that “the ride is like a catapult, and sometimes you don’t get all of the way up to the top. There have been instances when the roller coaster doesn’t reach the peak, and it swings back down the hill.”

Emily Deskevich (‘22) has broken twelve bones in her lifetime. She’s had two broken feet, three broken arms, one broken toe, one broken finger, one broken clavicle, one broken foot, and some repeats. Everything except for her broken feet are from horseback riding, which she has done competitively for ten years. Deskevich went into detail about the extensive list of injuries she has endured throughout her horseback riding career in her Senior Speech. Her scariest injury was when she broke her left arm, because the bone displaced and was compressing her radial artery. In order to put her bone back into place, doctors held Deskevich’s hand up and tied a ten pound weight to her arm so that gravity could pull her arm back into place. Then, over the course of a few hours, doctors took x-rays of her bone and moved the weight so that the bone made it back to its original spot in her body. 

The machine that Deskevich’s hand was placed in while her bone was pulled back into place. Photo credit: Emily Deskevich.

Abdullah Karabatek (‘23) enjoys creating his own beats using GarageBand. Karabatek started making beats last summer when he purchased his new MacBook, and he has continued practicing his craft throughout the year. Karabatek’s passion for making beats came from his oldest brother, Mohammed (’15), who has experience creating music and even makes money off of it. At first, Mohammed helped give Abdullah guidance and pointers on what to change or add, which helped Abdullah learn how to use the program and make better beats. When creating his first beat, Karabatek “pretty much started from scratch.” He “created a subtle rhythm with six piano notes” and went from there. Now, Karabatek primarily makes rap beats, or 808s. The TR-808 was originally a drum machine, but the name is now used to describe beats that are commonly heard in rap and pop songs. Here is one of Abdullah’s beats:

Upper School English teacher, Match adviser, and former resident of Czechoslovakia, Vlastik Svab, doesn’t have a middle name. He says “they were discouraged by the Communist government at the time.” When he was born, the Communist regime had a list of names that they suggested parents name their children. While known as “Vlastik” by friends, his full name, Vlastimil Svab, translates to “Patriotic Cockroach” in Czech. 

More interesting facts about Collegiate students: 

• Andy Sidhu (‘22) enjoys writing short stories. Sidhu “always loved thinking and reading stories” and is proud of his work. 
• MK Myers (‘23) almost died when she was four days old, because she didn’t have an open digestive system. According to her mom, she was the first girl in history to have this issue. 
• Jack Hill (‘22) is an avid scuba diver and has been to many tropical dive sites throughout the world. 
• Liza Fergusson (‘23) can name the capitals of all of the countries in North America, South America, and Europe.
• Izzy Lee (‘23) can pop her shoulder in and out.
• The Storey sisters (Lucy Storey (‘22) and Daisy Storey (‘23)) can recite the military alphabet on command. 
• Sadie Brooks (‘23) is severely allergic to peanuts. What makes her condition so interesting, though, is that her body developed antibodies at a young age, so now she has to eat peanuts weekly to avoid getting a reaction.
• Aaron Moore (‘22) has played the piano since he was three years old.

My fun fact? I’ve never swallowed a pill in my life. I have never needed to take pills for pain or headaches, so my pill-swallowing skills have yet to be tested. What’s yours?