By Ian O’Neal
Staff Reporter
Junior Miles Mann has devoted countless hours meticulously forming a thorough, foolproof plan to survive a horror movie, yet his opinion writing is even more impressive. The Sentry has benefited from his writing talents in the past years with our paper. He has many topics to bring this year through his many experiences and a plethora of extracurricular activities such as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
Through MMA, Mann has learned many lessons. MMA has made him honorable and courageous and he brings what he has learned to everything he does. Teaching MMA gives him the opportunity to understand the importance of patience and repetition.
“Because with martial arts, it’s the way that I’m learning them, the culture, the respect, everything to do with MMA and again, to be able to teach that to someone else is also very valuable,’’ Mann said.
He brings what he learns in the cage to everyday life. Being a high school wrestler has made him stronger as a reporter by developing connections. It gives him better relationships with other students and staff.
However, Mann is a reporter who is not content with just presenting the facts. He is looking to tell a larger truth. Being aware and involved in the story he is working on is his main priority. He pours his time and effort into getting his research credible and factual.
Getting rid of misformation is one thing Mann wants to change in this world. He says bias in news writing happens a lot in our society and he does what he can to report the facts.
“It’s a basic answer but I don’t think there is a bigger threat to public safety and democracy than misinformation,” Mann said.
He uses credible sources and as many voices as he can in his stories.
Mann can display his writing abilities in The Sentry, none of that would be possible without years of development in his writing.
“The main way that I’ve developed is getting used to the conventions and the way that things are written,” Mann said.
Once you start a conversation with Mann you can clearly see his strong charismatic personality. He takes what he learns in his hobbies and sports and uses it to make him a more open and educated person. He views every moment in his life as a lesson that he can learn and grow from. Mann’s resume has three years of high school and two years on the Yorktown sentry which is only a small part of what he will accomplish in the future.
By Miles Mann
Staff Reporter
Despite a wide variety of interests, freshman Ian O’Neal makes his main area of expertise clear in the first minutes of conversation with him.
“I love sports, just any sport in general besides something I’m not good at. I do play basketball sometimes, but I’m a big baseball and football guy,” O’Neal said.
His athletic inclination is not confined to the field, however.
“I went down to Puerto Rico, that was a while ago, 3-4 years ago, and then I became a big fisherman. I wasn’t a big fisher before, but then I went fishing and caught a ginormous tarpon. Now I’m a big fisherman. It was just a really fun time,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal’s interest in travel extends far beyond the Americas, though. He hopes to travel to all of the Scandinavian countries, of which he says Finland is his favorite, mostly due to the weather.
“I also like snow, I love snow, snow is awesome for me. Anything snow, not the ones we have here, it’s just slush,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal’s propensity for ball sports and cold weather, however, belies his true aspiration as an athlete: to become the strongest man in the world.
“It would be awesome to be 6’5 and 400 hundred pounds and [able to] lift anything. I don’t know if it’s healthy but it would be so cool to be the strongest man in the world,” O’Neal said.
If not a strongman, O’Neal would love to work at a college in some capacity, perhaps in the fields of history and archaeology.
Though politics does not rank among his chief interests, O’Neal is passionate about saving the environment, something he views as essential.
“In a couple of years [the environment] is going to be the main thing because it’s going to be so ruined. It doesn’t matter what party I am in,” O’Neal said.
Whether saving the planet or breaking strength records, it is certain that O’Neal will go far in the pursuit of his goals. The Sentry is lucky to have such a driven and ambitious reporter joining its staff this year.
