A Conversation with Evan Cowling
By Danny Sedlazek

Leesburg, VA- “I think I don’t try as much as I could or should,” said senior Evan Cowling to me in a very relaxed and confident tone. Truthfully, if you were to say that, you’d have to be very happy with yourself, but with a humbleness and intelligence few have. Just a short conversation with Evan reveals a learned young man who is honest enough to see his own flaws, but not in a way that paints himself as a victim. In essence, he’s a true realist. One would think that a respectable, extremely intelligent, and humble young man would go far in life. At least his natural abilities would make up for his apathy.
Evan started varsity football for the past two years but was frequently out due a serious concussion and other assorted injuries.
“My GPA is below 2 unweighted, but I scored above 1900 on my SATs with no prep at all,” said Evan. These statistics might seem extremely shocking, but those numbers paint the picture of who Evan is.
“[Last year] I missed a large chunk of school due to a concussion. When I came back to AP Bio, my teacher handed me a stack of missing work. I told her right there I didn’t intend to do any of it, and she threw it away on the spot. I’m not the type to do one block of missing work, nevertheless more than a month’s worth,” Evan said.
However, he never looks down on himself about his work ethic. His philosophy of life is the most interesting part about Evan.  Mixed with his very honest realism, he’s the type of guy who can say anything about himself, but he never comes off as conceited or whiny and depressed.
The future is something Evan doesn’t worry that much about. “I see myself going to NOVA, and maybe when I’m there I’ll find my passion and I’ll start trying and transfer up to a much better school. Maybe I’ll just graduate from NOVA and try to find work that way. I want to work in a biology lab, but you can’t say for certain if that is actually going to happen. People change so much in 10 years it’ll be hard to say whether or not I’ll approve of [my high school self]. If I’m not, say, a hobo, [and] I’m making ends meet, I think I’ll be happy with who I was.”
His humbleness extends even to his perceptions of how others view him. Playing on varsity football team for these past two years has kindled a very close relationship between him and his coaches. But he believes that they view him the same way he views himself.
“I think [the coaches] would say ‘He’s not very motivated, but when he puts effort into something, he can really do some impressive things.’”
At times, though, his humbleness is absurd.
“I think that I’m a very forgettable person. I doubt my teachers will have anything to say about me 10 years from now.”
I beg to differ.