Name: Mason VanDuren 

Year in School: Senior 

What are you thinking about for your future? I enlisted in the Marines. Ever since I was little my uncle was a Marine so it’s just me wanting to follow in the footsteps of my family. 

Where do you work? I work at Pizza Hut. It’s not a bad job, it’s chillin but I would not recommend eating at Pizza Hut. I also put my work into being an athlete – basketball and track – so I work on that. 

Daily routine: I wake up, feed my dogs, get ready for school, take my brother to school if I need to, come to school, head home to get changed for work, go to work, get home and by that time it’s pretty much already 9:00 so I go to sleep. I make time for homework during my Teacher’s Aide classes throughout the school day. 

Most essential ritual/habit: I always make sure to lock my car throughout the day because…I don’t trust people sometimes. I also wake up in the morning and put music on because it wakes me up. I like to play whatever music I’m feeling and whatever comes on my Spotify. 

Favorite hobbies: I love playing sports because I like the teamwork aspect of it. A team is a very essential thing in sports because you can’t really win without a team. You could have the best players in the world but if you don’t play like you’re a team, you’re not going to win. Just like the United States basketball team – they are some of the best players in the world but they weren’t playing like they were a team and they lost a couple of games that they shouldn’t have lost, but it happens. I also like being involved in school leadership, I like being a Link Leader because it’s a good way to build up other people’s abilities so that they can do better in school and life. 

Favorite app on your cell phone: My favorite app is probably Spotify because it’s music and I like music. Music can also become important throughout my day because it keeps me awake. I also have ADHD and so it helps get my mind off of certain things and helps to focus it. 

Favorite time waster: My favorite time waster is driving, especially at night. I like to drive with my friends but a lot of the time I like to do it alone because it’s nice to just be driving by yourself, listening to music, and just…driving. 

Sleep schedule: It depends. On the weekends I go to school a little bit later because I work until 10:00pm and then sometimes I don’t get home until midnight and then I’ll go to bed whenever I get home, after I shower. Other times, I usually go to bed around 11:00 and eat dinner, whenever I can, before bed. 

How do you know when you have been successful? I don’t think that being successful is something that you can actually “attain.” I think success is defined by what you can do; what you continue to do and it’s something that you strive to become better at. And it’s something that you’re never done with. You can keep trying and trying until you get there, but you’ll never get there unless you work to better yourself. Becoming successful is just becoming a better person and putting in the work for that.