Name: Salam Awad

School/year in school/age: Eisenhower, junior, 17

Activities/hobbies/clubs: yearbook, photography, art, music, basic everyday stuff. I also love design and studying countries and different cultures.

Favorite food: Ice cream. I'm seriously an ice cream fanatic. Chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate fudge are my favorites.

Favorite movies: I have a million! For starters, there's "Shooter," "Troy," "V for Vendetta," "10 Things I Hate About You," "Gladiator," "The Prestige" and "Superbad."

Favorite books/writers: "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseiniwas by far the best book I have read. So was "The Kite Runner" by the same author. "Beneath A Marble Sky" by John Shorswas also great. And I recently read "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah, which was inspiring.

Favorite music, musicians, or bands: The Goo Goo Dolls, Lifehouse, Maroon 5, Lenny Kravitz, Shakira, and Panic at the Disco. And I love Arabic music, but if I name any of it, it will look like gibberish to you.

What is your most treasured possession? My laptop. My life is on that thing.

What's your favorite place to go in your hometown? Well, I grew up in Palestine in a city called Ramalian, and me and my cousin were always adventurous and climbed up all the hills and mountains and trees. So, yeah, that's the best place, sitting on top of that tree or hill and just reflecting on everything. Usually, my thoughts always get tangled. But up there, I just kinda relaxed.

Which person do you most admire and why? Angelina Jolie. She is an amazing actress, and I love the roles she plays. She is always like that tough girl with a lot of woman power, and she is drop-dead gorgeous. I think it's amazing how she has a family of different ethnicities and she is always helping out humanity. She pulls that off and she is married to one of the hottest guys on the planet!

What would you do with $1 million? I would travel the world, feed some hungry people along the way and, of course, go shopping.

Three words to describe yourself: Determined, rebellious, outspoken.

What is your greatest achievement?
I have never given into peer pressure and never let anyone influence me negatively.
As I get older, I become more comfortable in my own skin, and that's a really good feeling.

Worst fear: My biggest fear is being a disappointment not only to others, but myself.

Greatest wish: My greatest wish is honestly just to see everyone I love happy. I know if they are I will be, too.

When and where were you the happiest? When I was a lot younger. Those are probably the happiest days for everybody. You're so young and innocent, not aware of the bad things out in the world. All that mattered was a box of Crayola crayons and balloons and cotton candy.

Where and how do you see yourself in 10 years? I have very unrealistic dreams. Realistically, I see myself married with a great career. Happy and content. Unrealistically, which is what I'm aiming for, I see myself married to a replica of Russell Crowe in "Gladiator," saving the world, becoming president of Palestine, starring in an action movie with Mark Wahlberg, writing a book, going on crazy adventures, and just seeing all there is to see in the world.

-- Alex Bacon, Eisenhower High School