“I have three chickens at home. My parents have a garden and they wanted to have animals there. It is not really a farm but there is a chicken coop,” Willis said.

Another fact many may know about Willis is his immense obsession for his favorite country in Northern Europe: Estonia.

“I’m Estonian so they are my people,” Willis said. “My obsession started when I went there every summer with my parents, with my family, and that was really fun. I like everything over there: the culture, the food and the language.”

One of his favorite foods from Estonia is shashlik, a popular grilled meat dish prepared around midsummer.

“We have a family barbecue during the summers and we eat shashlik,” Willis said. “It’s similar to Russian shashlik. It’s good.”

Willis’ Estonian culture has not only changed his taste buds for the better but has also changed the way he views issues in his community.

“I think [my culture] has changed me a lot actually. I’ve noticed whenever I’m talking about politics, oftentimes I look at it from an Estonian perspective to see which policy would help Estonia,” Willis said.

In addition, his passion for Estonia has also translated into his school life, encouraging his studious lifestyle. 

“I try to do well in school, so that I can learn a lot, and then maybe I can help bring those skills to Estonia,” Willis said.

With many extracurriculars and a hard academic load, Willis’ mindset is based on making the most out of his high school career and helping anyone he can.

“Sometimes I question myself, ‘Why am I doing all that?’ One of the things is if you’re in high school, some activities are only able to be done in high school,” Willis said. “You can’t really do ASB in college. Also, it’s just fun for me to be so involved. I like going from place to place and seeing a whole bunch of different people. If I don’t want to go to some meeting, I think, ‘What would I be doing instead?’ I’d probably be sitting at home on my phone which is not great. I like constantly being out there and helping.”

As vice-president of ASB, the road to his position was unique.

“I ran for ASB president last year against Mahad, the best election in Oak Park history, and I lost. I don’t know if I was expecting to win, considering he has been president for the last decade. However, I am actually happy [being] vice president. I like being able to help Mahad and everything that he does.”

Not only is Willis vice president of ASB, he is also the co-chair of the fundraising committee. His responsibilities include representing the student body and bringing in enough money to help supply important activities such as the dances and rallies.

“We’ll do some other fun stuff next semester that I hope everyone is ready for,” Willis said. “All the stuff for fundraising, it was probably my idea or my committee’s that I lead along with Triya [Bangera].”

Recently, Willis was nominated for homecoming court.

“It was definitely interesting because I think if I told myself freshman year, sophomore year or even junior year that I would be on the homecoming court, I don’t think I would have believed myself,” Willis said. “It was a fun experience, going up there [on stage].”

Another one of Willis’ favorite activities is his sport, baseball, evident by his three bobble head figurines on his desk: Joc Pederson, Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda.

“I wish I had done baseball since freshman year,” Willis said. “I watch it so much and I like talking about baseball to everyone else.”

Willis’ fondest memories over the past four years have been the Youth & Government retreats, a program where students learn about democracy, debate real world issues and make change in their communities and beyond.

“I think I’m biased because I just came back from Camp Roberts,” Willis said. “Every single kind of trip we’ve had for Youth & Government really sticks out in my mind, especially when the officers went to a camp called Camp Surf in San Diego. That was really fun. It was probably one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time.”

With Willis in the thick of college application season, he reminds himself about one thing to motivate him.

“It’s a hard process, a lot of applications and a lot of random emails that I get in my inbox that I have to do something about. I keep repeating to myself that everything is going towards a better future. Every single one of these applications that I fill out, every question answered, is to help me get into a better program in the future, so that I can learn more, be a diplomat or statistician, and to help Estonia.”