My last Chillin’terview at The Governor has to be with a monumental personality. It has to. And so many seniors are about to graduate, having only been known through reputation, and not their own words. It is with these two thoughts in mind that I sought out Simon Krasnow ’23, a man who fits both criteria, and conducted my interview finale as a member of this beloved newspaper.

*To ensure the interview does not overflow the page, I asked Simon not to bring up or elaborate on any election processes at any point in the interview. 

Albert Niu: How’s your day?

Simon Krasnow: It’s been alright I suppose.

AN: That’s it?

SK: Well, how has my day been… It’s an interesting question. In the grand scheme of things, there have been days that have existed that have been better, and there have been days that have existed that have been worse, so I would say it lies somewhere between the two extremes. As we just got back our statistics test today (the author and Simon share AP Stats class), I would say it is within one standard deviation from the mean.

AN: What do you hate about the school?

SK: Trying to think of what I can say that would be ok for the news… One thing that I complain about every time is whenever they have the lunch bars, they are always on the day that people have orchestra, and only have 25 minutes to eat lunch. So people who have orchestra but not jazz band never have as much time. Just do it on Tuesdays and Thursdays and flip! But no.

AN: What do you do for fun?

SK: Wrestling, I guess? I learned to solve the Rubik’s cube because Ethan Caballona ’24 got me interested in that… Complaining about elections? Though I can’t elaborate on that… I also play video games.

AN: Have you been sitting in the same spot in silent studies since day one? If so, are you gonna miss it?

SK: Yes.

AN: If so, are you gonna miss it when you graduate?

SK: No, I think that my spot should be passed down the generations to future study-ers.

AN: Do you have any particular candidates in mind?

SK: I do not.

AN: Tell me about your story with the oboe? How did you first start, etc.

SK: I first started playing the oboe at the end of fifth grade because in my previous school, all sixth graders had to be in a concert band for one year. Then I started taking private lessons, signed up for the Huntsville youth orchestra, and then I never stopped playing the oboe.

AN: What type of music do you listen to?

SK: I am a big “Prog” enjoyer.

AN: Care to elaborate?

SK: “Prog” stands for progressive rock. Some of the bands I listen to a lot are Haken, Leprous, and Thank You Scientist. I also listen to classical music, mostly oboe concertos, because I would have to play them eventually.

AN: What is one thing you wish people knew about you?

SK: I did gymnastics for seven or eight years before I switched to wrestling. Basically, the only reason I stopped was Covid, and I couldn’t go to the gymnasium that I used to go to.

AN: Do you miss doing gymnastics?

SK: I sorta started wrestling, and I found I like wrestling a lot more.

AN: Is there someone in the school who you wish you could have known better?

SK: I feel like I didn’t know Monty Hare ’23 very well before this year, but now that I have gotten to know him better I have quite enjoyed his presence. So I wish I knew him better before this year.

AN: What is your favorite dining hall food?

SK: Long pause… Sometimes they have grilled steak tips. Those are good.

AN: You have been given an elephant, and you can’t give it away or sell it, what would you do with it?

SK: Make a new Reddit account. Take a picture of the elephant. Pretend that I had purchased elephant futures on the stock market, and now have to take physical delivery of the elephant. And post that to r/wallstreetbets. As a joke. 

AN: Do you think your reputation in this school precedes you?

SK: I don’t think it precedes me enough. I think that more people should know who I am.

AN: Do you have a shout-out to a teacher?

SK: Emm… no.

AN: No?

SK: No.

AN: Cool.

AN: Tell me about your intended college major, future career paths… Any plans for the future?

SK: As of right now I am still undecided about my major. However, I have narrowed it down to three choices: chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and engineering physics, which you may notice a common theme among those three. So I definitely know what I am planning on doing, and I know what I am not planning on doing, which is majoring in…

AN: Anything else?

SK: Well, not necessarily. I could see myself majoring in mathematics, or even some of the social sciences like econ, but I think it would be highly unlikely that I would major in cultural anthropology, for example. 

AN: Well, those were all my questions. Is there something that I didn’t ask that you think should end up in the newspaper?

SK: I feel like a lot of the surveys that the newspaper sends out are likely not accurate, because they are sent out over email, and the population in the school who checks their emails is vastly different from the entire student population. 

AN: So there is nonresponse bias?

SK: There is nonresponse bias. We are at school. You can get a list of all students at the school, number them randomly, and then take a simple random sample.

AN: That is a good idea.

SK: For reference for posterity. 

AN: Alright Simon, this will be the end of our interview. Have a great day!

SK: You, too.