Today I was able to interview my classmate Waleed. He was sitting right next to me wearing a navy-blue coat with a grey sweater underneath, accompanied by a pair of black cargo pants, and on his feet were a pair of black Nike air maxes. He seemed very to himself only looking down at his phone unless called upon by the professor. He had this nonchalant yet confident aura spewing out of him. Waleed is also part of the freshman class. He was named after his older cousin but does not know the meaning behind his name. Waleed grew up in Harlem located in Manhattan. Growing up he attended Phillip Randolph High School. Waleed described his high school experience as an exceptionally good one. He is thankful for meeting a lot of good people. He described his four years in high school as a way to create his own identity for himself. He learned so much during those years about life and most importantly about himself. Waleed loved STEM classes in high school, excelling in math and science. Which gave him his passion for wanting to pursue computer science. He was very thankful for that opportunity, stating that he would not be the person he is without it. Having a good relationship with his peers was especially important to him. He began to speak about how he had made many friends and even to this day he is still in contact with them. It was nice to hear that even after going on to live separate lives they could still communicate together.   

After high school, Waleed chose The City College of New York because it was remarkably close to home and because he wanted to study computer science as his intended major. Waleed’s goal is to be a computer science engineer. He was extremely passionate about computer science, boldly claiming that in five years, he would see himself employed as a computer scientist and close to retirement. Without a doubt in his mind that he would achieve his goals he sat there with a prideful grin. Furthermore, Waleed very quickly gave his opinion on reading and writing. He does not like to read or write as he finds them very tedious. In addition, he does not have a favorite book either. Now onto something Waleed was a bit more passionate about, food. On the topic of food Waleed smiled and without skipping a beat, he told me his favorite food was pizza. He went on to tell me a story about the first time he ever had pizza as a young infant. It was like love at first sight. His first pizza slice was at 3 years old; it was a hot summer day, and he was out with his father, and they bought a slice of pizza to share. He then went on to specify which kind of pizza he preferred. He was a quite simple person preferring only a regular cheese pizza. As we began to wrap up our interview, I asked Waleed what if he had won the lottery and what he would do with all the money. He said he would put all the money towards a real estate portfolio and not continue his education at The City College of New York. As he found that after winning the lottery he would not be in a position in life where he needed to fulfill his education. If he won the lottery he would be able to fulfill his dream of retiring in 5 years as well.   

Waleed was very nonchalant and easy to speak to. His answers were engaging and kept the interview flowing very well. He was polite and efficient in answering. Not revealing much but just enough to get to know him from that little piece of information. He was not passive nor rude, he always complied and did it with great maturity. Whilst conducting this interview I felt a little awkward because I am not the best at speaking to people, but the more I spoke to Waleed the more we warmed up to each other and it turned into a casual conversation which gave me grave comfort as well. I was nervous but after doing this one I can say I am a lot more confident and believe I can produce better interviews. I learned that the only way to have a good interview is to make it feel like it is not an interview. It should feel like a conversation to which the interviewee can relate thus enabling them to open up to the interviewer. Our conversation flowed very nicely as if we had known each other for many years.   

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