Will Simons

COL ’16
Age: 19
Hometown: Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Major: Government

Where are you more comfortable?
I think it depends on the situation. I’m a big golfer, and I live on a golf course at home, so that’s a big comfort zone for me. But for the first time when I came back from winter break, I was in a cab coming back over Key Bridge and I was like, “Wow, I really missed this place.” It was really weird. That was the first time I felt like, “Wow, this is actually kind of a home.”

What do you do?
I’m involved in a couple of things. I do the Georgetown Speech Writing Advisory Group, which is basically a student-run communications consulting firm, so we have clients, a whole bunch of written communications projects, but I’ll save the pitch. We started that last year so I was vice president last year, and president this year. Club golf, obviously, and trying to get the U.S. Middle East Youth Network off the ground, which is basically a forum for policy discussion between Americans and Middle Easterners; we have chapters in northern Iraq , Egypt, London and looking at chapters in Jordan and Qatar.

Where and with whom do you feel most comfortable with at Georgetown?
Definitely my best friends who were on my floor last year. Most of my best friends are from Harbin. A close second is probably all of my friends on golf, doing something with them. I don’t know if it’s really where, it’s more with whom.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
I can name a couple of things. Anything from asking my first quasi-girlfriend out on a first date to doing my first interview for college.

What would you change about yourself?
I think we all want to be perfect. There’s a lot of things actually. Sometimes I’m a little… arrogant is not the right word … maybe it is the right word. You know, assuming and a little… pretentious. Also, I wish I could be a little more empathetic; there are times when I get so absorbed in my own stuff that I sometimes shut off other people.

What’s the biggest change you’ve consciously made in your life and why?
Honestly, probably something to do with trying to live by a set of values. It’s kind of been a slow process and I think it’s still happening now, but I’m slowly moving to a position where it doesn’t matter what other people can see in me. It’s more of how I want to be myself, just trying to live by values that I value.

Do you feel obliged to be busy at Georgetown?
I feel obligated to be busy anywhere. When I have the energy and will to do it, I want to be doing things for myself and for others. I just try and accomplish everything that I possibly can. I would guess that that’s a common theme at Georgetown. Maybe Georgetown has ingrained that a little more. I’ve definitely become more self-motivated or more busy since being here but I think it’s intrinsic too; it’s just not just because I go to Georgetown.

What do you hope Georgetown will help you accomplish?
I think it’s already helped me a lot. I’ve become much more driven, for better or worse. I’ve started to think about the things I value, the characteristics I value, like integrity, hard work, and perseverance, which I think is super important. I think most people that are successful at Georgetown have to have figured that out. And it’s made me more open and exposed to a lot of different cultures and ideas. And while I love my hometown, it is 80 percent white and relatively affluent, so it’s not exactly the most diverse place in the world, and I think that’s also been one of the best things about being here. While we’re certainly not the most diverse campus in the world, there are people from all over the world, people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, opinions and that’s really cool. That’s also why I’m studying abroad to get more of a taste of that. If you’re confined within a little bubble, you may think you’re right but, objectively, you really have no idea.

If you could lead a protest on one thing, what would it be?
Housing policy. That’s literally the first thing that came to mind. More seriously, something to do with the treatment of others in different parts of the world, refugee treatment or something like that. I don’t know if I’d lead a protest, I’d try to advocate… work behind the scenes.

Interview by Hanaa Khadraoui