By Lily Dezfulian
Staff Reporter
When asked for an unpopular opinion, sophomore Coco Rigoli explained how she doesn’t find many celebrities as attractive as people make them out to be.
“Timothée Chalamet doesn’t seem like he deserves everything that everyone talks about,” Rigoli said.
Rigoli, who joined The Yorktown Sentry last year, has many familial roots in Italy. Her grandpa on her father’s side immigrated from Italy, and her mother’s grandparents were also Italian.
“Our last name … it sounds like pasta, so everyone knows that it’s Italian,” Rigoli said.
In terms of sports, Rigoli dropped most of them to make time for lacrosse. With the mix of impending schoolwork and multiple sports becoming too much, she decided to step back from cross country and soccer to have more breathing room. Teaching lacrosse lessons and working out after school take up a large chunk of her time.
Rigoli’s time management skills are the reason she wound up on The Sentry. She planned to go to Georgetown Visitation, a private school with a strong writing program. After her sister told her about the extensive workload, Rigoli decided not to go. This made her feel as though she would be missing out on their writing program.
“I felt like I was kinda giving that up when I decided to go to Yorktown—not because Yorktown has a bad writing program, just that [Georgetown Visitation’s] was especially good,” Rigoli said.
In hopes to improve her writing skills like she would have at Georgetown Visitation, Rigoli chose newspaper as her elective.
Another subject that Rigoli enjoys is mathematics. It excites Rigoli in a way neither English nor history has. This year, she is taking pre-calculus.
“I like having the challenges of the classes like intense math classes,” Rigoli said.
Although unsure about what she wishes to be when she grows up, her passion for STEM is evident. Rigoli entertains the idea of going into her favorite fields.
“Maybe I’ll be an engineer or I’ll go into science and be a doctor,” Rigoli said.
Too bad she doesn’t have a medical license just yet. Right before summer, Rigoli broke her wrist.
“I couldn’t do any lacrosse; I couldn’t do most of the stuff I planned to do over the summer,” Rigoli said.
Because of this development, her family went on a multitude of beach trips to the Outer Banks. They also spent three weeks in Spain and Southern France. Rigoli hopes to eventually visit Africa and Switzerland, as well as see the northern lights.
Rigoli likes to read mystery novels. However, this doesn’t mean she never branches out to other genres. She watches Suits, a show about lawyers, with her mother. Rigoli’s favorite book is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
“It really helped change my perspective on everything about the death penalty, because I got to understand what the actual people who were facing the death penalty were feeling,” Rigoli said.
Rigoli broadens her taste in music by listening to her older sister’s playlists. She likes pop and rock, but Rigoli also shows an interest in more controversial musical genres.
“I know country music is like you either love it or you hate it. I love it,” Rigoli said.
If you were to catch her watching hockey games, don’t be too surprised. Despite not playing the sport, she enjoys spectating.
“It’s pretty easy to understand. Some other sports, whenever I try to watch them, I don’t really understand what’s going on,” Rigoli said.
If she was in The Purge, a horror movie where all crime is legal for 24 hours, Rigoli would not want to commit any crimes, but rather help people hide from the purgers. Similarly, if made to choose time travel or immortality, she would choose time travel, because she wouldn’t want to witness any of her loved ones dying.
“You don’t grow old, but you see all your friends and family grow old. It doesn’t seem like it’s a life worth living if you’re not with everyone you care about,” Rigoli said.
Her compassion for others is evident. That, along with her level-headedness, makes her someone you’d want to tell your story to. The Sentry cannot wait to see what she creates this year.
By Coco Rigoli
Staff Reporter
Sophomore Lily Dezfulian is a thrill-seeking new addition to The Sentry. If she had one day left to live, she would want to skydive. Dezfulian is a hard worker and plans to keep herself busy with sports and clubs throughout the year.
“I play ultimate frisbee during fall and spring. I play basketball, and I’m going to be running track in the winter,” Dezfulian said.
Dezfulian has a real passion for sports and would love to have the opportunity to report about them. She is most excited to write in the sports section for The Sentry.
Originally, Dezfulian was not interested in a writing elective. However, after a nudge from her dad—and hearing that one of her favorite teachers taught journalism—she decided that The Sentry was a perfect fit for her.
“My dad was like, ‘Lily, you should do something interesting, that’s going to help you branch out,’ so he said I should do one of the writing electives,” Dezfulian said.
Along with participating in many of our school’s athletic programs, Dezfulian likes to engage in clubs too. Last year, Dezfulian participated in ultimate frisbee and the Gender Sexuality Alliance.
“This year, my friends are planning on dragging me to Board Game Club,” Dezfulian said.
Dezfulian enjoys excitement in her life and in the shows she watches. If you can’t find Dezfulian on the ultimate frisbee field or at a club meeting, you will likely find her watching the thriller Killing Eve.
“It is kind of weird, but it is an interesting show. I like it because it has Sandra Oh in it,” Dezfulian said.
She loves to fill her time with sports and extracurricular activities, but school takes up the majority of her time. Dezfulian is excited to work on The Sentry and excel in her other classes such as Algebra II and AP World History.
“I’m good at math, and I enjoy it because I’m good at it, but I do really like history,” Dezfulian said.
School is an important part of Dezfulian’s life, and she is always looking forward to her academic future. Her biggest fear is rejection from colleges.
“I freak out about applying to college, and I worry about not getting in,” Dezfulian said.
For her future career, Dezfulian is considering becoming a linguist. Her passion for words and language is shown in her music taste. Dezfulian enjoys listening to folk punk for the lyrics, not the singing.
“If somebody listens to it, they hate it because the singers can’t sing. It’s just them kind of screaming, but it’s nice because they end up talking, and they have a really poetic way of speaking,” Dezfulian said.
The Sentry is lucky to be welcoming such a committed and well-rounded student as Dezfulian. There is no doubt that she will excel in all of her activities and school this year.
