Transcript: Z Cimoroni on Hockey, Resilience, and Everyday Improvement

Good morning and welcome back to the Late Start Show. We are here today with Z Cimarroni, hockey player, award-winning percussionist, and Sherman Prize Speaker Contest finalist. How are you doing today, Z? I'm great.

How are you? Great. Doing well. It's great to have you on the show.

Yeah. Great to be here. Let's start at the beginning. Where did you grow up?

Were you around here? And what was your childhood kind of like? Yeah, so I grew up in Shaker Heights, same house I live in now. I mean I have an older sister, younger brother, my younger brother goes here Dog named Archie I went to lower school, I went to St.

Dominic's until 4th grade Then I moved to Shaker for 5th and 6th and then came here in 7th grade, been here since You know, as a kid, what kind of hobbies or activities were you into? Were there any kind of early things that really kind of took hold? I mean, sports, definitely. I played hockey from when I was like really young.

I think I was four when I stepped on the ice first. Played lacrosse from fifth grade on. Played some t-ball. I played soccer for a while.

Yeah, I mean, sports, school. Did music ever catch on? Yeah, music. So I played piano since I think kindergarten.

And then I stopped piano in fifth grade at Shaker, played clarinet for like a semester because it was required. And then I switched to like percussion in general. And then I really just switched to percussion because I wanted to play the drum set. And so then from there, like after sixth grade, I kind of did drums on my own during the jazz ensemble here in ninth grade. and it's really good you know kind of let's talk about that family part like obviously all of our families have helped us out in so many different ways but how does your family kind of really support you or obviously having your younger brother here and we'll get to that a little bit later it's just really cool um how does your family really kind of support you whether it's your activities and hobbies or just your day-to-day yeah i mean so for my activities and hobbies i mean obviously my parents both support me so much driving me to stuff you know help pushing me into stuff.

My dad, specifically, he really drives me to do a lot of things. I mean, I remember when I was really young, I was like five. I didn't like to do anything. And I would always say no, like I didn't eat anything.

When my dad was like, all right, do you want to try hockey? I was like, no, I don't want to do this. And then he forced me to go. I got on the ice and I loved it.

And so, I mean, he's kind of driven me to, you know, try new things. And after like trying those things, I might say like, no, I really don't want to do this. And then after I try it, I end up loving it. So that'd be with activities.

And then on day to day, they just supportive, you know, give me like a guideline of like path to go down. And then, you know, if I'm strained away from the path, kind of nudge me back into the fairway. So and let's talk about that transition that you made from Shaker to U.S. What led to that transition?

And what were those first experiences with U.S. like? So what led to the transition was the shaker got rid of the honors classes. That was that year that they got rid of those. So my parents were like, okay, here are the classes I was in.

I was in two advanced classes, I think. They were like, all right, what are your favorite classes? What are your least favorite classes? And my favorite were the ones that I was in the advanced classes.

And then my least favorite were the ones where I wasn't in the advanced classes because kids were just in there goofing around. There was no learning getting done. So then going into the summer, my parents were like, all right, he's not going to like school next year with all the base classes that he already doesn't like there. So they were like, all right, US has great education.

So we moved in. We came in blind. I didn't shadow or anything. I remember I just walked on.

My dad took me to the lower campus. I live really close to there. and he was like running me down the whole advanced class baseline class and so like after that night we kind of decided like okay we're gonna try usc how it is didn't chat or anything came in seventh grade which was covid so that was weird you know first year back was like when everyone's in max six feet away you've got the plastic shields up when you're eating lunch and whatnot. It was weird, but it was good. I mean, everyone's friendly here.

You get accepted in the community really quickly. So it was nice. You know, let's talk about that sense of brotherhood. Did you kind of feel that really, really early on and that, and how's that kind of advanced for you throughout the rest of high school?

Yeah. I mean, early on just meeting like friends. I remember I would sit in like in seventh grade, we had the whole opposite lunch or like, I forget what it's called now, like the study time and we would like go outside yeah ILT yeah and we would go outside and like I would just walk around the track with I think it was Andrew Garceau Carson Pantech and then I don't know there might have been some other kids who I'm forgetting but I remember those two a lot I mean those are my really good friends right now so I mean I was a new kid going in and it's two kind of just bonded together and then it's fully grown here I mean I definitely think it you see it more in the upper school you just realize it more because when you younger you don really take the time to really appreciate that kind of stuff But I mean definitely here you really see that brotherhood You see people who are, like, really close together, friends for life, want to come out and support their friends. I mean, I remember I didn't go to the play, but I'm pretty sure there were a bunch of people who were going to the play.

I wish I could have gone. But, I mean, I guess that's kind of just something that it's like going out and supporting people. So you see that everywhere, helping people on their homework, their work, and just being there for your friends. And then there's that sense of brotherhood with your friends, but you've gotten the privilege to actually have your real brother here at U.S.

Did he follow you shortly after you made the transition, and what has it been like having him here with you? Yeah, so we made the transition at the same time. So he was third grade, and then fourth grade was his first year here. Is that right?

No, it was fifth grade. Fifth grade was his first year here, seventh grade for me. And then, I mean, yeah, kind of – I mean, it's kind of crazy having him in the same school as me. He didn't play hockey last year, so we were really only on the same team for lacrosse.

But getting to play hockey with him, getting to play lacrosse with him, seeing how he's doing is really nice. I mean, we have, like, the same schedule. So we spend a lot of time together. That's a nice thing to have.

You know, over the years at U.S., like, teachers are such a big part of kind of our day-to-day. Are there any teachers or mentors once you kind of got to the upper school that really just invited you to this community that you just really remember and thankful for? Yeah, so I mean, Mr. Strack and my sponsor for sure.

He's really helped me, you know, guide me through from freshman year to now. Just getting to see him on like sponsor meeting Fridays and whatnot. And then, I mean, I had Dr. Kleisner for ninth grade and 10th grade. so that was nice to kind of grow throughout those years in English with the same teacher who could watch me grow I also had this is my third year with Senior Pacheco so I kind of the same thing with English is growing from a 9th grader to a senior with the same teacher I've had her for 3 years now and then I mean one that sticks out to me is Dr.

Bone and you guys probably hear this one a lot but like I had him for English last year AP English and And I mean, he just, I don't know how he does it, but he does a great job of making class really fun and, but also like very academically focused. You really learn about a lot. He pushes you to be your best. And at the same time, he makes it fun while he does it.

And outside of class, obviously you do sports. What are some clubs that you've joined that you've really enjoyed? So, I mean, I think the big one for me would be Anderson Scholars and Entrepreneurship. But getting to explore a passion throughout high school has been really nice with the speaker series and all the other events we do.

I also did, I was invited to do the U.S. textbooks over the summer, which was nice to get to really do hands-on learning, I guess, through that program. I'm also in the Spanish Honor Society so that's nice a little bit of volunteering also get to learn more about Spanish senior Pacheco runs that so that's another connection there yeah I would say those are the two big ones in school you know let's kind of go to that sports part so obviously you talked about getting involved with a bunch of sports when you were really really young but how do you kind of how have you grown in sports and how they really become just such an integral part your life? I mean, for me, so like sports have always been in my life and I, I've definitely grown as a player, like the skills, but also as like a mental player for like studying film, seeing what the other team's doing. And, and then also like as a leader.

So you see what your teammates are doing, how they're acting, if they're down, you bring them up. And I mean, getting to see that growing in that sense and like the more mental aspect of the game has really been the big like benefit i see out of sports and then i would also say like kind of building on that mental game is i've kind of been out for a while i got this i sprained my ankle in april never really healed and then i got this like blood thing that's going on and so having that removed really lets you see how integral it is and how important it is. And specifically your experience with hockey, you guys have had a lot of success during your time, but how do you try to sustain that success as players come and go? I mean, I'd say it's kind of a culture thing.

It's kind of, and it's also like a work thing. You got to work every day on and off the ice, and you got to accept the new kids, show them how we do things on the team, and then just go from there. Throughout all the different sports, do you have a favorite memory, a favorite kind of funny memory that just really sticks out to you that you remember? Funny one's a hard one to think of.

I mean, when I think of a fun part in sports, I immediately just jump to the locker room, and there's not a specific thing that would stick out there but I mean just thinking about how loud it is everyone talking everyone having a good time bunch of laughter and I mean I guess that what sticks out to me when I think of memories That what I going to remember 10 years from now What your favorite student section that we had at a hockey game At a hockey game, I'd say, I want to say the BART. We always pack the BART and that's great. I love that. And then this is kind of going off that, but for in general, I'd say that football, the lower school football game.

That was so fun. That was sweet. That was really cool. you know overall you do a bunch of different things such as sports but one of the things that we also haven't talked about is kind of your percussionist and the fact that like you've been uh you've even won awards in a bunch of different like uh jazz things you know how do you first kind of get interested in like music more specifically and what was the real change from when you get when you were playing it when you were younger to now uh so when i was younger i would say it was mostly driven by my parents and I think that was kind of persistent until like eighth grade and because I remember my dad kind of urged me to join the jazz ensemble here and but now I feel like it's driven by me a lot which I think is really good um and then I mean music I just love it for like a bunch of reasons like it's it's like a creative it's a very creative thing to do especially jazz where you're soloing you're making stuff up like i get a a piece of paper that's got like a form and and then over that there's no like set thing for me to do i kind of just get to do what i want which is really nice um and then music i mean it it activates like a different part of your mind which is really great it's not like same as your normal academic subjects it's going to activate like that creative part of your mind, which I think is really cool. Yeah.

And then moving on to another cool part that you were able to do during your time here is you were part of your finalist for the Sherman prize speaking contest. You have a speech called the demons in our pockets about phone use and what that the negative effects that can have. What drove you to write about that topic? I mean, I, I think what really drove me to write about that was my own experience.

I was, I think ninth and 10th grade, I was definitely on my phone a lot. And then going into 11th grade, I, I picked up a really hard schedule and I knew that in order to get through the year and like be able to accomplish stuff academically, I would need to really focus and really not be on my phone. And it actually wasn't really hard once you're really busy and you find other things to do, it's really not that hard to pull your phone down because the stress of an A push to quit a test tomorrow or the stress of a physics test tomorrow is going to drive me to actually do the work versus to sit on my phone and scroll on Instagram. So pretty much my personal experience of really putting my phone down was kind of what drove that.

You know, being on that stage, especially in one of the biggest events for Conavica High Schooler, to go through with so many people kind of watching the crowd. What were like the nerves like in that moment? And how did you kind of just give that speech and still look so calm up there? I mean, I think, so there are definitely nerves, you know, you're sitting on the, in the seats by the steps to the stage and you're like, God, am I going to freak out?

Am I going to, I'm going to be shaken up there. But I think what really calms the nerves is practice. And it's, that's really it. I mean, I gave a, this is separate from Sherman, I gave a thing for Anderson Scholars, a little like elevator pitch.

And I got in there, I had a little note card with like five points I wanted and I had like kind of had a script and I, but like I didn't really have a script. I didn't have it memorized fully. It was like there. And I got in there, I say the first like five words of the script and I forgot what the next words was.

I froze. I sat there, I started shaking. I was like, I don't know what to say. And then they let me reset.

I remembered it. It was fine. But the contrast there is that I didn't practice that much for that elevator pitch, and I froze. And I was stressed.

I was shaking in there. I froze. Versus the Sherman, practice a bunch. You got the script there, which is helpful, obviously.

But if you just practice, practice, and practice, you know what parts you struggle with. Really focus on those when you're up there presenting. And, I mean, that's kind of what calms the nerves, in my opinion. One of my classes with Dr.

Yoder this year, we're going down to the lower school to give a presentation on phone use and the effects of social media. If you could talk to those kids down there because they're just getting their phones, just getting into social media, what would you say to them? I mean, I think I'd kind of say the same thing I said in my Sherman. I would really try to urge them not to use their phones because, I mean, I think it's especially bad for the younger generations because they're really growing up and the phone use is just skyrocketing and then growing up in a society that's all you see, that's all you mirror, like you mirror what you see.

And so, I mean, kind of just showing them harmful effects and how to fix it. You know, let's kind of go to having a brother at U.S. Obviously, you've talked about he's younger, so you kind of older brother kind of guiding him through. How does having a brother at U.S. really influence your own experience here?

And what have you learned from him and he's learned from you? Yeah I mean John is really smart and he really like accomplished And so I guess he kind of motivates me seeing like I look at him and I like okay where was I two years ago And where is he now? And I mean, I definitely think he's got me beat. But I think the whole brother thing adds another layer of what I'm doing.

Just knowing that, I mean, I hope he's looking up to me at least. But knowing that there's someone looking up to me, it makes my actions just like matter more. And you also have a sister. What has that been like having her be older than you two and being the younger brother to her?

I mean, I'd say I just look up to her. And she's like really helpful for a lot of things, a lot of like academic related things, college process, a bunch. I mean she came on like everyone when you think of a college tour you're like I do not want to go on a college tour and she came on a week long of college tours with me and my dad over spring break and that just shows how much she cares how much she wants to help because she just wanted to like be there see what I'm thinking help me out give me some guidance through the whole touring process she's been giving me guidance through the process in general and so I mean that's really nice very helpful definitely look up to her. You know, speaking of that kind of college plan and going through those, obviously, you're in your senior year.

So that's a lot of what you're kind of doing right now. Where do you kind of plan to go to college? Where do you think you're studying? Obviously, we're kind of early in some of the decisions, but what are you thinking so far with that whole idea?

Yeah, so I mean, I want to, when I was kind of formatting my list, I was kind of had two big things. One was academics. I really want to go to a highly academic school that's going to prepare me, teach me a lot. I also think a holistic education, activating different parts of your brain, kind of like the whole music thing.

I think that's really important. Teaching you to think, ask questions. So that's one. And then two, I want to go somewhere that's like a lot of school spirit.

And you got people who are going out to sports games, having fun, bonding together. So those are kind of my two. I mean, from there, it kind of depends on where I get in and where I don't. Knock on wood.

And then what was the second part of that question? Oh, we're doing our study. So I'm thinking business. I think Anderson Scholars is a big influence in that.

Some of the schools I'm applying to don't have business schools, but I think I'm just going to take the economics route there. And, I mean, that's great. You get to get that whole holistic education like I was talking about, But then also you can really personalize your education through like a minor, through like the clubs you're in. And so like really flexible stuff with economics.

And then if I end up going to a school with a business school, kind of a similar thing there. Do you have a dream job in mind? I like if you could pick out five, ten years or really just waiting to see where life takes you. No, I don't have a dream job.

I kind of go with the flow. I'm not great at planning ahead. So I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But, you know, instead of kind of planning ahead, look, you just back on your whole high school career, just looking at U.S. as a whole.

What do you kind of hope that everybody really remembers about you when you graduate and kind of look a couple of years from now? Oh, yeah, I remember Z because I would say because he worked really hard and he was kind. I would love to be remembered for that for as someone who, you know, put their best foot forward, let the chips fall where they fall. and then someone who you know talk to who will help you out um it's just kind and what advice would you have to give to a younger z or maybe just someone in that position who's a freshman just starting out at us and still have the four years to go here i mean i would say take risks i would say enjoy it that's probably a pretty common answer you get is enjoy it but i would say take risks, you know, try new things, be different, kind of separate yourself from other people, and then see where you see where you end up. You know, one of the things that we ask all of our podcasts, or all of our guests, every single podcast is what is your why?

I mean, what really motivates you to get up every day, get at it, go to school, then go to hockey, then also play in the play in the jazz band and just continually strive to be better and better? I'd say it's my love for the things I do and then my desire to improve myself. So when I go to things I really like doing like hockey, the drums, lacrosse, those are things like those are my break for the day. Those are the fun part of my day and I just love going to those.

And then when it's things that I might not like so much like going to math class, going to English class, doing homework, studying for tests. It's more of a, you kind of got to embrace the suck where you can't always do things you love. And that's the reality of it. You work to make tomorrow you better than today you.

Well, Z, it's been great having you on the show. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories and experience with us. And to our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. And we'll hope you'll join us next Wednesday for the next episode of The It's Joe Show.

Thanks, Z. Of course.