Q. In what grade are you currently enrolled?

A. I’m currently in 12th grade at Emmaus High School.

Q. Please provide the first names of your family members: parents, siblings and pets.

A. My parents are Norman and Marybeth Nowak, I have a sister Tabitha Nowak and we have two cats, Kiko and Misty.

Q. What is your favorite subject? Why?

A. My current favorite subject would have to be advanced calculus. Although the class is difficult and tedious at times, math has always been a strong interest of mine. Understanding more about calculus and its relation to space is very intriguing to me.

Q. Have you received any special awards or recognition?

A. I’m enrolled in National Honor Society and have received both honor roll and principal’s honor roll throughout high school.

Q. Are you involved in any extracurricular activities? How has COVID-19 impacted these activities?

A. I’m involved in the theater department as well as singing groups such as Select Choir and Fermata Nowhere. COVID-19 did heavily impact these, with our only real musical performances being recorded without an audience. Luckily we were still able to perform our musical, Tuck Everlasting, for a smaller group of the cast and crew’s parents.

Q. What do you consider your biggest challenge to date?

A. Although easy for most people to say, COVID-19 has definitely been my largest challenge. Aside from its impacts on my schooling, essentially all of my extracurriculars were put to a complete halt. Thankfully I was able to find other hobbies and interests to work on in the meantime, but it was very difficult for my life to take a complete 180 for a rather long period of time.

Q. What is your next goal after high school?

A. My next goal is to go to college and although I have not committed I am choosing between Elizabethtown College and University of Pittsburgh. I want to get at least my bachelor’s in either computer or electrical engineering and find an impactful job from there.

Q. Whom do you admire? Why?

A. I strongly admire Eddie Vedder. I think he’s one of the best frontmen of all time and his and Pearl Jam’s music is very inspiring to me and even helped me learn quite a bit of drumming on my own.

Q. For what would you like to be remembered?

A. I want to be remembered for making a genuine difference in the world. Whether it be through my career perhaps in building something new or making another type of breakthrough or even making music one day that years down the road someone might still be listening to.

Q. Do you have any advice for your peers?

A. Use your time in high school to explore as many hobbies and career opportunities as possible. It’s truly the perfect time to reach out and find the things that make you happiest rather than following a path you feel you need to follow.