Brandon No

School: Olympia High School in Olympia.

Age: 17.

Parents or guardians: Trudy and Ki No.

Best personal achievement: Getting a student job at the Department of Revenue in Olympia. I feel that it has given me the essential work experience and responsibilities to build the foundation for my future.

How I spend my time: Most days I work after school until 5 p.m. Later, I tend to study or do homework for awhile and then spend time with my family, whether it be watching television or chatting with them. However, on the weekends, I like to hang out with friends and take a break from all the schoolwork that takes over my weekdays.

Favorite subjects: My favorite subjects for this year are calculus, physics and German.

Favorite movie: “Holes.” I usually reference it as a joke with friends, but I would consider this one of my favorite movies.

Favorite book: The “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling.

Dream job: I love technical work and cars. If I could work with a high-end automobile company like Lamborghini or Ferrari and help create concept cars, it would be a dream come true.

Someone I respect: Even though she isn’t in my life anymore, I always have respected my Halmoni (my grandmother). She really taught my brother and me how to care for others, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think of her.

The hardest part of being a student: With the high competition for colleges now, it seems more students attempt to go above and beyond the standard. It’s a challenge for me to keep up with that. I have to finish large amounts of schoolwork with extracurricular activities, while balancing it with my social life. But, I do think I handle it fairly well.

My ambitions or career aspirations include: I plan to attend the University of Washington or Seattle University and pursue my education in the engineering field. After that I hope to have a solid, high-paying job. Then, I’ll probably have a family and have fun with life.

Someone famous I would like to meet: Ichiro Suzuki, star player of the Seattle Mariners. I know that at a young age he would train for baseball four to five hours a day, and I respect his dedication. It would be an honor to have a conversation about his career experiences in Japan and America.

Someday, looking back on my life, I’ll be able to say: “I’m proud of the example I was for my brother (Kasey), and I will always remember the fun things we did growing up with our whole family.”

Biggest challenge facing teenagers today: To understand that status isn’t success, but that confidence is success. Many teenagers completely ignore that confidence will give you the mind-set to achieve your wildest dreams and end up wasting their time trying to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

One thing in the world I would change if I could: I would make all resources found on the Earth unlimited. That would eliminate the thought of running out of resources to sustain life. Therefore, wars that are fought over oil and such would become obsolete and everyone could live in peace knowing that there’s nothing to worry about since there would be enough resources for everyone.

Nominated by: School counselor Dave Forrester, who wrote: “I believe Brandon to be one of our best students. He is determined and intelligent. … He has a strong connection with his family and community. Brandon has a bright future ahead of him.”