Shandler: Athletic Aspiring Archeologist 

I took the time to interview Shandler. The 15 year old Floridian Haitian athletic capricorn has more to him than we would think. Shandler was born in Florida sometime in January, but when he turned three years old he got a change of scenery. Him, his American mom and Haitian dad along with his two brothers and sister moved to Haiti. Sometime way after they moved to Teaneck, New Jersey, where he is now. In relation to his setting, when asked what his saddest moment was ever, he replied “It was two days before leaving Haiti. My friends threw a surprise party for me and it was fun until each of them came in front and talked about what they like about me most and what their best moment that they shared together was.” Something that could’ve been any good day, but it was actually a really emotional goodbye. 

Exantus revealed that his role model is his father. As we continued talking, I discovered that although Exantus has a clear passion for dance, basketball, soccer, and volleyball, his true aspiration is to become an archeologist. Along with his love for dance I discovered that his favorite last moment was his last dancing choreography and his current favorite song is “Martin and Gina” by Polo G. Another one of Shandler’s likes is that he enjoys Italian food most. 

Past his hobbies and favorites are his dislikes, Exantus of Catholic religion, shared that he dislikes racist people- something I’m pretty sure a lot of us can agree on. I had gotten a little insight on Shandler’s past summer. He had participated in a call of duty tournament as well as going to a Food festival held at a church about 17 minutes away from Teaneck. He tasted all different kinds of food. They also showed him different traditional dances from each country, then there was a dance off. Apparently, if you want you just go on the stage and you show off your moves. This began a wage, his sister told him if he goes and challenges someone she’d buy him a MacBook Pro. He saw this as a means for opportunity, went in front, “did his thing,” and now has a MacBook on the way. Along with that being a great moment in his life in the present, in his past I was told that his favorite childhood memory included the day when he, his mom and dad went to a certain beach that Kanye West frequented in Haiti called Labadee. We get the idea that he is somewhat well traveled, but his dream destination is the Bahamas. 

Shandler has gone through a major lifestyle change in such a short amount of time. He must be experiencing some culture shocks, and missing home yet he keeps it together and just focuses on his interests. We are waiting to see what our future archeologist has in store for the near future.