THE ECHO

by Drew Paradise

My AP Photography focus (or sustained investigation, if you think you’re smart, like College Board) is candid portrait photography; essentially, I walk around the halls asking cool people if I can take their picture. I figured I could kill two academic birds with one stone – combine AP Photo with newspaper – and write a killer article.  

As The Echo’s newly-appointed paparazzo, the week I spent searching for this school’s best outfits resulted in some fun interactions with the colorful cast of characters listed below, and I’m excited to tell the story of how it all went down.  

Day 1: Sept. 5, 8:20 a.m.

As I was leaving the cafeteria to get back to class, I saw someone I vaguely recognized:  

“Shely Francis” 
Class of 2026, Junior 

This girl is the most stylish SRT-skipper that the class of 2026 has. If there was anyone I could make late without a problem, it was probably Shely Francis. 

The bell rang.  

“Tell me about your outfit.”

“I tried to go for, like, a 90s streetwear outfit for today. I don’t know, I was just feeling very baggy. So that’s what I’m going for right now,” said Francis

“What’s your favorite thing you got on today?” 

Francis held her shirt up by the collar. “This jersey. I love it.”

In a rush to get back to class, I resorted to a half-memorized list of questions I had written in my notes app. 

“Do you think you could take Kendrick Lamar in a fight?” 

“Oh, absolutely,” said Francis. “He’s tiny.” 

“Could you take a goat in a fight?”  

“No. They’re scary, but I like that.” 

“Is Kendrick Lamar the goat?” 

“Absolutely not.” 

This absolutely ridiculous conversation, which we held three minutes before classes started, was as casual as talking about the weather. I paused to think of another question.  

 “If we’ve got Michael B. Jordan,” I asked. “What do you think happened to Michael A. Jordan?”  

Francis laughed, tried to answer, failed, and laughed again. 

“We don’t talk about that,” she said. “We agreed not to speak on that.” 

And with that we ended our conversation, took a few photos, and ran to our respective classes. I was about 10 minutes late to English that day. 

Day 2: Sept. 6, 8:14 a.m.

While I was walking around, I had seen a certain guy that I knew I had to catch for an interview, and just as soon as I thought to look for him, he appeared down the hall: 

“Stephen Cary” 
Class of 2025, Senior 

Stephen Cary is Avon High School’s resident JNCO-rocking, shirt-layering senior. He’s downright difficult to miss. He’s tall enough to scare me.  

“I’m wearing this Orange County Choppers shirt I got at the thrift yesterday,” said Cary. “Like three bucks. Kinda a steal.” 

“What’s your favorite thing you got on today?” 

“Probably my JNCOs.” 

He also told me he stole the long sleeve from his dad. I figure that’s what you gotta do when you spend $200 on a pair of jeans.  

“Do you think you could take Kendrick Lamar in a fight?” I asked. 

“I’m pretty lanky and skinny, so probably not.” 

“Do you think you could take a goat in a fight?”  

“No. No. Definitely not.” 

“Is Kendrick the goat?” 

“Of course,” said Cary. “Yes. Yeah.”  

Cary was also astonishingly zen for most of this ridiculous interview, but I managed to get him to crack a smile by the end. This was how he responded when I asked what he thought happened to Michael A. Jordan: 

“Um. Oh, wow… He probably- I don’t know. Probably something bad happened to him.” 

Day 3: Sept.10, 8:15 a.m.

I walked no fewer than ten steps away from the media lab when I ran into my last interviewee: 

“Carlyn Enslin” 
Class of 2026, Junior 

I found Enslin posted up on the corner of upstairs B hall waiting for their friend. 

“I’m wearing my dad’s clothes,” said Enslin. Apparently this was a running theme. “But he has good style. Good music taste.” 

They gestured to the Soundgarden shirt they were wearing. Definitely a shirt you’d steal from your dad.  

Enslin’s friend arrived shortly after I got to them. Not wanting to third wheel their time together (which probably wouldn’t matter to an actual paparazzo), I had to cut the interview short. Who knows, though – hopefully I’ll run into them next time and see what else they stole from their dad.