My name is Ethan! All my life I’ve been a hard worker, always trying my best even in the face of failure. Because of this, I’ve been able to improve in a lot of different areas and built up a good life habit for the future. That being said, I still enjoy and welcome downtime when it’s offered. Some of my favourite pass-times during these hours are reading, music, sports, and video games. Another activity that I just started to pick-up again after previously discontinuing, is biking. Biking used to be very prominent in my life as it served as a family bonding moment. Unfortunately, as time went on, these little trips that I loved going on, started to happen less and less. Recently though, we’ve rekindled this old tradition and started to go on biking trips again in Whistler. Riding through the winding trails of the deep forests with cool winds blowing on my face was like a breath of fresh air.  It’s been great to ride with my family again and revive one of my childhood passions.

“If you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on”

This quote by Franklin Roosevelt speaks to me because I strongly believe in its message. To me, this quote means that when you’re feeling beaten down and you feel like giving up, dig deep within yourself and keep on going. This, in my opinion, is a fantastic mindset to have because thinking this way allows you to persevere through any difficulties you may be facing. I’ve had to think this way on multiple occasions, for example, working in a group with people I don’t get along with or when you’re in the final minutes of a sports game exhausted and you need to push yourself to keep going. I think everyone should take something away from this quote and integrate it into their daily lives.

My favourite website has to be Google. I chose Google because it’s like the embodiment of all of the human race’s knowledge. At a click of a button, you can gain knowledge on any topic that you can dream of. Wondering how a cheetah can run up to 120 km/h? Google it. Wondering what the world record is for who can eat a raw onion the fastest? Google it. Wondering what the definition of pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is? That’s right, you can Google it. Even though Google’s great for searching up somewhat pointless things, it can also be very useful for things like school projects. Although sometimes unreliable, Google can link you to millions of different websites containing useful information that can help you understand any subject you’re struggling with. Keep in mind this is available to everyone in the world who has a research device and wifi. If all that is not enough to convince you that Google is the greatest website of all time, then I don’t know what will.

From a young age, I’ve always been fascinated by books. Ever since I read my first chapter book (Percy Jackson) back in elementary school, I’ve been captivated by these fictional fantasies. Nothing before had ever come close to capturing my attention as this story had at the time. It amazed me how just with words on a page, the author could make the reader feel so many different feelings. Excitement, sorrow, longing, empathy, accomplishment, you name it. With good characters, a good plot, and a talented writer, you could go through any amount of emotions in just one book. I absolutely love it when you’re so engrossed by a story that you lose track of time. Your mind just sinks deeper and deeper into the plot, you start to not even realize that your reading anymore as your imagination paints out the scene in your head. Before you know it, a couple of hours have just gone by and you didn’t have the slightest idea. To this day, I still have those moments and I deeply enjoy every single one. I hope as I grow older, I’ll still find time to read as it has largely impacted my life.

OverSimplified’s videos are some of my favourites on Youtube. The main reason why their videos rank so high on my list is because of how they can take a somewhat boring topic for some people and turn it into something fun and interesting. I think this idea is genius as it’s a great way to educate people on major points of these historical events without having to look through a textbook or multiple websites on the internet. That part isn’t the “genius” part though. The genius part is that by displaying these points in comedic easy to understand videos, it inspires and encourages people to look up more details about these events on their own. I just find the fact that they can change someone’s opinion on a subject so drastically somewhat amazing. I hope that in the future, more videos like this will be used in classrooms as another way to get students motivated to learn about topics like these.