Who’s Who?

For their first assignment, the reporters were asked to interview each other and write short, attention-grabbing profiles that painted a detailed portrait of their subject in 200 words. They were then tasked with photographing their subject and held to a 3:40 p.m. deadline. Below, our reporters introduce each other.

Mia Gates is a self-proclaimed travel enthusiast, athlete, and sweater-lover. She’s attended not one but two immersion schools, one Spanish, one French. French, she says, “did not go well.” Gates spends her summers with her family on Long Island in a house so tiny she is surprised that it hasn’t blown away yet. She also attends summer camp in Colorado where she hikes, climbs mountains, rafts, and rides horses (even though she hates horses a lot). Gates is usually in a bad mood if she hasn’t exercised. She loves playing on the Berkeley Carroll soccer and basketball teams, as well as the softball team. Gates hopes to visit every continent; she dreams of backpacking through Europe and into Asia, and especially wants to visit Thailand. Gates doesn’t know what else she wants in the future, but she isn’t worried about it because she “still has time to decide.” However, she is considering going to Stanford, but isn’t sure if she actually wants to go or if she just likes the idea of it. Mia lives in Park Slope with her parents, a cat named Ozzy, an English Shepherd named Rocket, and her sister, Ella.

(Photo and profile by Gemma Siegler)

Sara Tobias has lived in the same apartment her entire life in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, sharing a room with her 17-year-old sister, who attends Bronx Science High School. Her relationship with her sister is often rocky, as they bicker a lot over little things and often get on each other’s nerves. Growing up, Tobias was exposed to baseball from family trips to the beach where she would play wiffle ball with her parents, who are athletes as well. Tobias, often called Mariano after the famous pitcher Mariano Rivera, is the only girl on her baseball team and travel team. She was previously invited to a prestigious seminar for the USA Women’s National Team for Baseball; however, she does not want to be a professional baseball player. When asked about her relationship with the male players she states, “Everyone is really accepting.” She has also formed a lot of strong friendships through the team. People often consider Tobias as breaking barriers in society and a role model for young girls interested in athletics, but she is not concerned about this, as she states she “just likes to play baseball.” She hopes to continue baseball in college, wherever that may be. Besides her baseball career she is a very serious student, understanding the importance of a good education, as well as prioritizing her academic subjects over anything else. Tobias has a love for writing and sees herself entering that career field, with either magazines or newspapers. Recently a good friend gave her a book called “642 Things to Write About,” and she hopes to fill the entire book.

(Photo and profile by Eva Fexy)

Darcy Montana is a well-known student of Berkeley Carroll’s upper school community, but there are plenty of things that go on in her life that some might not know about. For example, she has many hobbies such as soccer, violin, and ballet. Even though she isn’t planning on making a career out of these activities, she is dedicated to them, especially violin, which she has played for over eight years. A career that Montana is dedicated to, is becoming a fashion journalist. She says that she got her love of writing and English from books, and she loves them because she feels that they can be interpreted in so many different ways. One of her favorite authors is John Green, and her favorite book by him is “Looking for Alaska.” Montana also enjoys TV shows such as “Gossip Girl,” “The Gilmore Girls,” “One Tree Hill,” and “The Bachelor,” and admits to having a slight addiction to social media. If there were two traits to describe Montana, they would be that she learns from her mistakes, and that she likes to take risks. When she was eight years old and riding her bicycle, her friend cut in front of her, flipping her right over the handlebars. She has learned from that experience, but still continues to take risks when she feels it is appropriate, regardless of her fear of death.

(Photo and profile by Miranda Hall)

As a freshman at Berkeley Carroll, Grace Chong doesn’t have a lot of time on her hands. She is busy studying for classes, including her two favorites, Math and Spanish, and using her free time during the spring season to run track after school. Chong enjoys the summer season more than the spring because it is warm and school is out. During the summer, Chong goes to photography camp and spends the long days taking portraits and candids. Chong would describe herself as moody, enthusiastic at times, but also lethargic. She even compares herself to a cat because of her lethargic tendencies. Like a cat, Chong would like to lie around all day and have somebody feed her and clean up after her. Chong owns two Siamese cats named Sugar and Spice and relates to them by claiming, “I AM a cat.” When she is not busy being a cat, Chong enjoys going to Five Guys with her (human) friends and eating the greasy burgers and fries. Chong also very much enjoys eating kale and especially likes kale salads or kale and egg sandwiches. To sum up, Grace Chong is a person of many different tastes in food as well as a person who loves the summer time and taking pictures. When she is not being a person, Chong is living the good life of a cat.

(Photo and profile by Sara Tobias)

Fexy, otherwise known as “Eva Fexy,” was born in Manhattan, New York and is 14 years young. She believes the Big Apple is “one of the best places to grow up because it is the center of everything.” According to Fexy, New York City is the place all her friends from camp love to visit because of the many shows, concerts, and sports games that give the city its active touch. When Fexy was younger, she wanted to become a marine biologist but lost interest in that career because of her middle school science teacher’s lack of engagement in the classroom. Fexy’s interest in literature prompted her to take journalism as a spring intensive in her new high school, Berkeley Carroll. In her free time, Fexy likes to play the guitar and spend time with her dog, Java. Regarding her family, Fexy doesn’t feel they are as close as they used to be but feels touched by her grandmother because of how giving and selfless she is.  Additionally, the time spent watching Netflix and eating desert with her sister is very much valued. When asked about the happiest moment in her life she simply replies, “I don’t know. My whole life is just one big happy event.” Eva Fexy is most definitely leading the teenage life of exploration, excitement, and curiosity.

(Photo and profile by Grace Chong)

Gemma Siegler was one of just 28 students in her graduating class at Village Community School, and she loved that it was a close-knit community where everyone was mostly friendly. She recalls, however, that once they stopped playing dodgeball on account of one student’s feelings getting hurt, she knew it was time to go somewhere else. In her spare time, Siegler likes to play with her French bulldog, Jacques, and watch shows like “How I Met Your Mother,” “Dance Moms,” and “Gossip Girl” on Netflix. She loves to sing and dreams of being an actress on any platform, really, although Broadway and movies are her preferences. Siegler wants to go to a college with a solid theater program and hopes to venture outside New York City to be away from her parents for a bit. She hates cooked onions but says Luke’s Lobster on the Lower East Side has the “best lobster rolls in the entire world.” If acting doesn’t work out, Siegler would love to go into interior design because she likes being able to organize a room and take charge. On a more serious note, Gemma likes to surround herself with people that can tell her hilarious anecdotes and ponder the meaning of life. She describes herself as loyal, adventurous, but not too much, and energetic.

(Photo and profile by Timur Abdullayev)

Family-oriented Jesse Bermudez-Deane’s dream life is to live in Manhattan and own as well as be the head chef of a restaurant. Her interest in cooking and restaurants comes from her mother. Bermudez-Deane’s mother cooks for the family every night and Bermudez-Deane loves to help out if she has the time. When she cooks a delicious meal for her family she feels very proud of herself. Another moment when she felt proud was when she won a Scholastic gold medal for her writing and when she was accepted onto an elite soccer team; moments like these show how hard she works to accomplish her goals. Her biggest fear is being alone and not finding someone she truly loves in her lifetime. This fear comes from her extremely close relationship with her mothers and she says, “It would be devastating to not have a family of my own one day.” She would love to have three kids and a gorgeous husband. Bermudez-Deane says that a standout memory from her childhood was when she had peanuts for the first time. She exclaimed, “I like blew up and stopped being able to breath!” Although this was not a positive memory it was still significant and tells us something very important about Bermudez-Deane — don’t give her peanuts! In general, her life with her family may be different than those of other families since she has two mothers. Bermudez-Deane remembers going to many gay pride events and parades throughout her childhood. The uniqueness of her family has influenced her to want to do great things with her own life and she hopes to inspire her own family one day, just like her mothers have inspired her.

(Photo and profile by Darcy Montana)

Timur Alex Abdullayev was born in Southern Russia, where he lived until his family decided to move to the United States for a new start free of the economic turmoil and war that they faced in Russia. Since he moved at age four, all Abdullayev can remember from his time in Russia is being pushed through a park in a stroller by his grandmother. Today, as a teenager living in New York City, Abdullayev views himself as fun-loving and analytical. In his free time, Abdullayev makes hip hop music, plays video games, and likes to write poetry. Additionally, he plays basketball and baseball for teams outside of Berkeley Carroll. During his summers, Abdullayev enjoys spending time with friends and going to the beach, but never swimming. One summer at camp, Abdullayev nearly drowned during his swim test, and has since refrained from swimming. As the only male student and one of the few sophomores in the Spring Intensive Journalism 101: The Brooklyn Beat, Abdullayev finds the experience only slightly awkward and quieter than he is used to, although this does not affect his experience in the intensive. Despite this, Abdullayev is a persistent, serial-killer-fearing lad who you can count on to refuse to dine on escargot, the only food he claims to turn down.

(Photo and profile by Mia Gates)

Enemy of cockroaches, tissue enthusiast and lover of high places, Miranda Hall has lived on two different sides of the world and gone to the top of the Empire State building and the Tokyo Sky Tree.  She was born in Manhattan and moved to Brooklyn just five days later. When Hall was ten, she moved to Tokyo and lived there for four years. She just recently came back to New York when she was fourteen. For Hall, living in both Tokyo and Brooklyn were two very different experiences. She thinks of Tokyo as a Utopia where without a single garbage can in sight the streets. Once she even found an ipod in the park and when she came back two weeks later it was still there. However she thinks the people in New York are more genuine and have more depth than people in Tokyo. As a toddler, Hall was always trying to figure out how things worked, like when her dad caught her pulling every tissue out of the tissue box, trying to figure out how it worked. Hall’s curiosity has stayed with her into her teenage years and has influenced her love of writing. Hall is very independent so being a writer would free her from being creatively stifled by a boss and would allow her to work on her own. Hall is a quiet person to her school friends but less so with her friends outside of school because she knows she will not be judged. In her free time she likes to watch Doctor Who and Gossip Girl and is a lover of animals and high places.

(Photo and profile by Jesse Bermudez-Deane)

Madeline Clapps is the Upper School Administrative Assistant at the Berkeley Carroll school, where she spends her days answering questions, taking attendance, and supplying endless amounts of Jolly Ranchers to students in need of a sugary fix. Outside of Berkeley Carroll, Ms. Clapps identifies as a high soprano, a dog person who recently became a cat person, and a lipstick-lover. She grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, but now lives in Park Slope in an apartment full of farmhouse-style furniture and relics from her beloved grandparents’ house in Redding that was recently sold. Before coming to Berkeley Carroll, Ms. Clapps worked as an editor and an actress, her proudest (and biggest) role being Jane in a regional production of the Disney musical Tarzan. It was during this production that she learned flying onstage is thrilling but mostly uncomfortable, and watching the sun rise over the Grand Canyon is something everyone must do in their lifetime. Someday, she plans to write a memoir titled “Where Did All the Cookies Go and Why Am I Covered In Crumbs?” But for now, her dreams include teaching English, writing a few great songs with her boyfriend, and getting her cat, Vanilla Bean, to return her undying affection.

Friend of books, lover of words, and…international spy? You may know her as Assistant Director of Admissions and English Teacher at Berkeley Carroll, but she has lived many lives. Esinam Bediako was born in Detroit to Ghanaian parents. As a toddler, Ms. Bediako earned the nickname The Destroyer when she methodically dismantled her sister’s tricycle with her bare hands–and then calmly reassembled it. Ms. Bediako’s parents took this episode as proof that she would one day become an engineer. However, by the time she was in elementary school, Ms. Bediako had picked up a new hobby: she would gather her stuffed animals and teach them English. She would even write stories for her inanimate students to enjoy. After high school, Ms. Bediako moved to New York to attend Columbia University, where she majored in English and conducted research comparing pop fiction from countries around the world (which was kind of like being an international spy, only much more literary). Along the way, Ms. Bediako worked as a teacher, a textbook editor, and even a pharmacy technician. Today, Ms. Bediako is content to teach English in idyllic Park Slope. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, spending time with her family, and attempting to write the next great American novel at the snail’s pace of one paragraph per month.

Long before she became the Upper School Learning Specialist at Berkeley Carroll, Elizabeth Epstein worked as a reporter in the New York City Bureau of The Associated Press. When she wasn’t monitoring police activity on the overnight shift, she was lucky enough to interview an amazing cast of characters: the third-generation owner of a Brooklyn chocolate syrup factory, a man who lost 100 pounds by walking across America, and the actor who played the munchkin coroner in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” among others. Ms. Epstein is a self-described “chicken” who hates scary movies, public speaking, skiing, and anything else that gives her an adrenaline rush. She has two small boys: Nathaniel, a lego-loving, chess-playing 6-year-old who loves comic books, and Harry, an acrobatic 3-year-old who hates to leave home without a superhero cape. When she isn’t chasing her two hooligans around playgrounds in Brooklyn, she loves to hunt for places where you can find cheap eats and perfect views in close proximity; her current favorites are Bahn Mi on the grass in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, Nathan’s Famous on the boardwalk at Coney Island, and fish tacos at Rockaway Beach.