By Lenaia Powell
Some people just kind of… stand out. One of those people is Darius Knight, a junior here at Apopka High School, who claims he is 6’5” (based on my experience, I believe he’s taller). But appearance isn’t everything, and while you’ve most likely seen his lanky frame walking around, there is much more to his everyday life, including debate, interest in the medical field, and his tendency to greet people with handshakes. Darius is extremely opinionated, hence being in Debate, but gets along with just about everybody.
What are you involved in here at Apopka High?
Um, I do debate, and I’m part of the safe club, that’s new for me, and I’m part of Latin club, I’m the treasurer. And… I think that’s it.
What are your hobbies?
I don’t like that question.I don’t know what’s defined as a hobby.
What do you mainly do when you’re outside of school?
I do homework [laughs], and I like to sleep, um, I eat a lot, I don’t know if that counts as a hobby. Uh, I play games, ‘cause I’m a human being, I listen to a lot of music, I like telling jokes, that’s a thing.
How tall are you and how often do you get asked that question?
Oh, this is a good one. I’m 6’5”… 6’5” or 6’6”, I don’t know, last time I checked I was 6’5” but that was a couple months ago, and I’m growing really fast. But yeah I’m 6’5”, and I get asked that question at least five times a day, along with how big my shoes are, and um, if I can reach the roof, that’s another one. Also, do I play basketball, or volleyball, that’s important too. [I] get asked that all the time. Um, yeah! I’m pretty tall.
Do you have any plans for after high school?
Yeah, I wanna go into the medical field, I wanted to be a pediatrician at first, but I don’t like school enough to go for like six more years. So I’m looking at different two to four-year jobs in the medical field so I can still do what I want, like help people, but I don’t want to waste a lot of money going to school. If that makes sense.
Do you have an idea of where you want to go to college?
No. Not at all.
Being in debate, do you have any unpopular opinions that you would like to share?
Um, apparently it’s an unpopular opinion that college athletes should get paid, which I had to argue that with my whole… It was me against my whole class recently, that was fun. I think I won, in my opinion, I won, because that’s how I feel. I probably lost, I don’t know. What other unpopular opinions do I have? Um, that I’m a cool person, that’s not a very popular opinion, uh, that my jokes are funny, that’s another one. People don’t agree with me on that one either, but yeah.
Do you enjoy being in debate?
I love being in debate! Okay so I grew up with three brothers, so having that, I’m used to arguing all the time, but now I argue professionally like I’m arguing… they give me a topic and I just have to argue with somebody to tell them I’m right, which is what I would be doing anyway if I wasn’t in debate, I mean why not be in debate.
I know that you tend to give people handshakes, is there a specific reason why?
Okay, so there’s a couple reasons. One, I’m part of this other organization, well I used to be, and it would make us greet in handshakes because we were supposed to be as professional as possible, and I was also told that school was supposed to mimic a professional setting. So I mean, ‘posed to shake people’s hands in a professional setting, so that’s how I greet people. And plus, I’m tall, people want high fives and it’s more of like a medium five for me, instead of a high five, so I just shake people’s hands.
Do you have a job?
No, I’m unemployed and sad.
Would you consider yourself a social person?
Um, I talk a lot, so I guess. Like even if nobody wants to listen to me talk I still talk, so yeah! I guess I’m a social person.
What’s your favorite class and why?
Ooh, um, I don’t know, that’s a tough one. Probably debate, ’cause I like arguing.
And finally, is there anybody you want to give a shout-out to?
I have a long list of people that I would give a shout-out to, but I don’t wanna forget someone’s name and seem like a bad person. So I’m not gonna do that.