When Zach Stone isn’t working hard, you can catch him playing hard. He’s a late–in–life gymnast and proud Sinophile who isn’t afraid to advertise how he feels about Beijing.
Street: What do you do around campus? Zach Stone: I’m the President of the International Affairs Association, head of executive board of the College Cognoscenti and Vice President of the Club Gymnastics team.
Street: What should the IAA stand for? ZS: It should stand for I'm An Ass, since everyone is the club is wildly conceited about how great we are. True story.
Street: What does your PennCard photo look like? ZS: I had just gotten my first laptop, so it’s on Photo Booth. I kind of look like a pedophile that’s in shock.
Street: What’s the best Chinese food on Penn’s campus? ZS: The most obvious answer is Sang Kee, but what’s really the best and most authentic is FroGro's Chinese food.
Street: What was the funniest thing you saw in China? ZS: In China they try to copy a lot of the stuff Americans do, so in Beijing, they decided to produce I Heart BJ shirts, to imitate I Heart NY shirts. Of course, every foreigner thinks it’s hilarious that they’re printing shirts that say I Heart BJ, so they started buying tons of them, and now they’re sold everywhere.
Street: At a party, you’re the one who _____? ZS: Awkwardly dances and then feels really self–conscious about it the next morning.
Street: What’s the best '90s female pop song? ZS: “Wannabe” by The Spice Girls would be very high up there. Also, “Mmmbop” by Hanson. It’s close enough to a female song.
Street: In my family, I’m the _______ one. ZS: Conservative. My parents are pretty cool cats.
Street: What was your high school superlative? ZS: In high school, I was Most Maternal and Most Paternal. In my yearbook there’s a photo of me with my baseball glove in one hand, and I was wearing an apron and had a spatula in my other hand.
Street: What’s your motto? ZS: I try and live like the mantra, “A ship’s safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” I like that and I like “Work hard play hard.” I like that at Penn, people go out hard but are still involved and still do good things in the world.
Check out our past Egos of the Week here.
