Name: Neil Rogers
Year: 2020
Major: Linguistics
Hometown: Alliance, Ohio
1. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Ideally, in 5 years I’ll be working alongside lawyers or volunteers in the Southwest, Florida, or Texas helping to translate for people and helping them find relief/aid or whatever they need.
2. What’s your weirdest quirk?
When I’m trying to piece something together in my head, I use my hands, especially my fingers, in different ways to try and make the ideas merge or unravel, but for everyone else it just looks like I’m popping my joints in a strange manner.
3. Who would star in the movie about your life (they can play you or your love interest or whomever really)?
I really do see Cicely Tyson playing the role of one of my aunts in a movie about my life just because she seems so charming and wise that she could be my aunt in real life. (She was in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion)
4. What’s your most visited website?
Recently, it’s been Sporcle, the puzzle/trivia/quizzing website. I’ve been on there every day at least three times a day just trying new puzzles and flexing my brain.
5. What technological advance are you looking forward to in the next 50 years?
I’m really looking forward to hopefully hover technology or the implementation of renewable energy sources on a large scale.
6. Two truths and a lie?
- I have never once spit out a piece of gum
- I did martial arts for 10 years
- I have bowled since I was around 7 years old
7. What’s it like being a David M. Rubenstein Scholar?
Being a David M. Rubenstein Scholar is honestly one of the defining stories of my life at Duke. It has changed how I think and interact with the broader Duke community in a variety of ways and for that I am eternally grateful.
8. If you inherited $100 billion dollars today, what’s the first thing you would invest it in?
I would invest it in a new house for my dad, because he deserves it and I can finally begin to start taking care of him.
9. What’s an event in your life that made you the person you are today?
I’d have to say that my mom leaving my siblings and me at a very young age shaped who I am today. Because of her actions almost 15 years ago, my entire life path has been governed by that one choice.
10. What’s your strange addiction?
I absolutely love biting myself whenever I have an itch. Like when my fingers or hand or even arm itches, my fingers just don’t do it so I gnaw at it until it stops itching.
11. What’s your favorite smell?
It’s really strange but my favorite smells are a tie between honeysuckle and skunk. Something about skunk spray just reminds me of home and just back roads.