Interview: Sebastian Baksh
My interview with Sebastian Baksh:
SEBASTIAN: I think being a teacher would be a great opportunity to imbue the passion that I have for learning and science into the children of tomorrow and to see them grow up with the same curiosity that I now hold for the world.
SEBASTIAN: My name is Sebastian Baksh and thank you once again for listening to my story.
NARRATOR: Great, okay so let’s talk about this thing that you want to do. So what do you think is going to be more interesting than this?
SEBASTIAN: Oh a more personal narrative, which I actually didn’t remember until I started limping in the hallway over there. For 4 years, I used to be a really fat kid in high school, at the beginning of—
NARRATOR: Let’s just record, see what we get.
SEBASTIAN: I suppose you could think of it as the classic underdog story: a fat kid joins track his freshman year, tries to rise through the ranks, but my story is different in that my senior year I ended up breaking my ankle and it cost me a lot.
SEBASTIAN: Being overweight was a product again that I had brought about myself as for some reason as a child I became obsessed with dropping sugar cubes in water, freezing it then eating it the next day (this is so embarrassing). I did this continuously for about three years, sixth through eighth grade and by the time I had ditched that habit, I had gained about 40-50 pounds from what I had once stood as. And, of course, this led to a lot of bullying by my peers, name-calling, fat-shaming. It was just generally not a good time for me, and I sought out to end that time.
SEBASTIAN: When you are made fun of like that, you develop a very strong sense of self and a need to prove yourself to other people and that's where I sort of developed these tactics to try and win in any way possible.
SEBASTIAN: especially during track meets. I would attempt to push people out of lanes, I would keep my elbows up so no-one could pass me, and eventually this type of activity led to where I broke my ankle.
SEBASTIAN: My coach heard the ankle snap from about 40 yards away. Everyone on the team around me described it as stepping on an empty water bottle.
SEBASTIAN: At first, it was just shock, there was no pain; I heard the noise underneath my ankle and I felt something was wrong. Immediately during the race, I jumped off the lanes, I fell onto the grass field and I pulled my shoes off to see what had happened. It was completely purple, I was unsure what had gone down. People ran over to me, they began carrying me off the field before the pain even began to set in.
SEBASTIAN: A few months after track had finished, I sank into a deep depression over the results of my injuries. I could no longer run, which was one of my greatest passions. I still can no longer run. Having this sort of injury -- both of them brought on by my own actions -- has left me a lot more humble than I was before and I'm thankful I'm at least not in a wheelchair but I hope to one day be able to recover and I'm in the process of looking for physical therapy as we speak.
SEBASTIAN: Looking back on where I started, as a freshman, overweight, completely unfit for track -- the first time I was asked to run a mile, I ran one lap and walked the rest of the way, I ended up finishing second to last at 13 minutes. During my prime, I could do two 5-minute-miles within 30 seconds rest of each other. I had made it a long way and I'm completely and utterly disappointed that I couldn't further my success in that field.
SEBASTIAN: I hope to be able to run again one day as that still remains one of my greatest passions.
SEBASTIAN: I’m currently attending Hunter College as a freshman. My major so far is undecided.
SEBASTIAN: I think being a teacher would be a great opportunity to imbue the passion that I have for learning and science into the children of tomorrow and to see them grow up with the same curiosity that I now hold for the world.
SEBASTIAN: My name is Sebastian Baksh and thank you once again for listening to my story.
NARRATOR: Great, okay so let’s talk about this thing that you want to do. So what do you think is going to be more interesting than this?
SEBASTIAN: Oh a more personal narrative, which I actually didn’t remember until I started limping in the hallway over there. For 4 years, I used to be a really fat kid in high school, at the beginning of—
NARRATOR: Let’s just record, see what we get.
SEBASTIAN: I suppose you could think of it as the classic underdog story: a fat kid joins track his freshman year, tries to rise through the ranks, but my story is different in that my senior year I ended up breaking my ankle and it cost me a lot.
SEBASTIAN: Being overweight was a product again that I had brought about myself as for some reason as a child I became obsessed with dropping sugar cubes in water, freezing it then eating it the next day (this is so embarrassing). I did this continuously for about three years, sixth through eighth grade and by the time I had ditched that habit, I had gained about 40-50 pounds from what I had once stood as. And, of course, this led to a lot of bullying by my peers, name-calling, fat-shaming. It was just generally not a good time for me, and I sought out to end that time.
SEBASTIAN: When you are made fun of like that, you develop a very strong sense of self and a need to prove yourself to other people and that's where I sort of developed these tactics to try and win in any way possible.
SEBASTIAN: especially during track meets. I would attempt to push people out of lanes, I would keep my elbows up so no-one could pass me, and eventually this type of activity led to where I broke my ankle.
SEBASTIAN: My coach heard the ankle snap from about 40 yards away. Everyone on the team around me described it as stepping on an empty water bottle.
SEBASTIAN: At first, it was just shock, there was no pain; I heard the noise underneath my ankle and I felt something was wrong. Immediately during the race, I jumped off the lanes, I fell onto the grass field and I pulled my shoes off to see what had happened. It was completely purple, I was unsure what had gone down. People ran over to me, they began carrying me off the field before the pain even began to set in.
SEBASTIAN: A few months after track had finished, I sank into a deep depression over the results of my injuries. I could no longer run, which was one of my greatest passions. I still can no longer run. Having this sort of injury -- both of them brought on by my own actions -- has left me a lot more humble than I was before and I'm thankful I'm at least not in a wheelchair but I hope to one day be able to recover and I'm in the process of looking for physical therapy as we speak.
SEBASTIAN: Looking back on where I started, as a freshman, overweight, completely unfit for track -- the first time I was asked to run a mile, I ran one lap and walked the rest of the way, I ended up finishing second to last at 13 minutes. During my prime, I could do two 5-minute-miles within 30 seconds rest of each other. I had made it a long way and I'm completely and utterly disappointed that I couldn't further my success in that field.
SEBASTIAN: I hope to be able to run again one day as that still remains one of my greatest passions.
SEBASTIAN: I’m currently attending Hunter College as a freshman. My major so far is undecided.
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