Describe me in three words? I don’t trust my friends to give me an honest answer here, but my mum says I am Handsome, Intelligent, and Charming…

Chess is hobby – to be totally honest it has been a borderline addiction, there is something beautiful about being able to connect with someone on the other side of the world that you will never meet in person but you can share 10 minutes of mental warfare with them.

One of my proudest moments?

Honestly I am pretty stoked to be our school’s Head Prefect, it was a goal of mine since year 9 so it is nice to think I have made my 14-year old self proud.

Q&A with Ethan

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

I think going to the salt flats in Bolivia could be cool. I like the idea of wandering around hundreds of kilometres of flat nothingness. I feel like it would clear my head and be pretty peaceful. 

What are your favourite subjects in school, and why do you enjoy them?

My favourite subject in school is probably computer science, I love problem solving and that is what the subject is all about. It is nice to have built up enough knowledge about coding that I can use a variety of methods/skills to approach a problem, and it is really enjoyable to be able to compare the different ways of solving it with my teacher and classmates to see how they went about it. I think that is the best way of learning. 

Who is your role model, and why do you admire them?

Probably my grandma, she is the most organised person I know. And that is definitely something I want to get better at. It is also a goal for me to look as good as she does at her age. (No, she didn’t make me write this)

What kind of books or movies do you enjoy, and why?

I like reading books that make me think, I would say the majority of my reading is non-fiction, and about a topic that I am suddenly interested in. But I do like a good novel; I am currently in the middle of “The Brothers Karamazov” , and probably will still be by this time next year. 

What are your goals for the future, and how do you plan on achieving them?

I really would like to reach an online rating of 2,000 on chess.com. It is a goal I have had for a long time and isn’t necessarily one I have to achieve anytime soon. But it would be a nice thing to brag to my grandkids about. 

What makes you unique or different from your peers?

I don’t think many of my peers are kept up at night by frogs. We have a pond that my bedroom is conveniently the closest to so I can always hear the chorus of “Ribbets” when trying to get to sleep. 

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be and why?

I would change peoples attachments to their opinions. I think if everybody could tell the difference between critiquing an idea and critiquing the individual who has the idea, then the world would be a lot more open minded and overall a better place.