A new generation is preparing to graduate from high school in 2006. They grew up in a world of blogs and iPods, worldwide travel and No Child Left Behind. They are talented and curious, and they approach the world in ordinary and unconventional ways. Starting today, we'll introduce you to them. Related video: Meet today's Generation '06 senior

Emily Evnen | Age: 18 | Lincoln Southwest

I have a very large family, both immediate and extended. I have wonderful grandparents on both sides. They’re actually backyard neighbors, which is really cool.

I like being the oldest (of four siblings). You’re in charge more often. You get to break new ground before anyone else has. And that’s something I enjoy doing.

I think for the most part I’ve gained my parents’ trust. I said, for the most part.

I think my parents (Susan Evnen-Dinsmore and Stephen Dinsmore, Richard Evnen and Kim Heier) are extremely qualified in the art of parenting and they do a fantastic job. And they are generally right even if I do not like it at all.  And they’re going to love me for saying that. Maybe I’ll get an extra hour on my curfew.

I think (Southwest) is a phenomenal school with amazing faculty and amazing administration, fantastic facilities. I get to play in a $9 million theater every day after school.  

I love any class that challenges me to think in a new way. I really, really loved calculus. And I also really, really loved women’s literature.

From the integral of zero to 1, 4 over X-squared plus 1 is Pi, and I know that. And I can use my calculator and tell you how to find Pi. And I think that’s the coolest thing in the world. I’m completely content with knowing that and no one else sharing my enthusiasm.

I really have my heart set on going to Wesleyan Connecticut. I visited that school during one of the breaks with my father and my sister  and as I was walking around on campus I just felt like I belonged there. They have an amazing theater program. Everyone on the campus is socially aware. They have a sense of oneness.

Eventually I’d like to use theater as a voice for social and political change, kind of in a style similar to Moisés Kaufman, director of The Laramie Project. Combining the two things in life that I love: theater and social action.

Technology? I love it. I have my cell phone. I have my iPod. I have my college laptop that will be my best friend for four years. It’s a Sony Vaio. I blog. I’m on MySpace.

How many hours a day with technology? Too many. Generally it’s before I go to bed. I’ll just be typing away on the Internet, it’ll be 10:45 p.m. I probably should be asleep.

I really liked biology. And so far I'm liking anatomy and physiology. It scares me a little bit because everything has to be spelled right on the tests.

I'm not reading anything (for pleasure) currently. I feel very guilty for saying that. I need to read “Kite Runner.” I feel clichéd living in Lincoln and saying that, but I've heard it's just phenomenal. And I have it. So I'm one step away from actually reading it.

I read a lot of great books for women's lit. And some of them were beyond what I had to read. “Time Traveler's Wife” was amazing. “Bastard Out of Carolina” was amazing. “The Handmaid's Tale” was amazing.

I'm probably a little more liberal than my parents, although they're both liberals. I think that I push the envelope a little bit every now and then with them.

Sushi is the greatest thing on the face of the earth. Oh my god, it's just amazing. It's like a little, one-half inch by three-inch packet of heaven that you can eat. Love it.

When I was very, very young, my dad took me to a sushi bar in Chicago. I was completely mortified. He gave me one of the milder pieces, a California roll, and told me just to try it. And I tried it and I loved it.

I'm intolerant of a couple of things and socks and sandals is one of those things. The other is intolerance itself. And a brown belt with black shoes.

Eighteen is an amazing time of your life. We're off to college. We're leaving the life that we knew of being supported by our parents to go into a world of self reliance and self discipline. It can be amazing. I'm looking forward to it.

One thing I'm reasonably sure of is that truth will win out.

I don't go to synagogue as regularly as I should. However, I believe that you can be very spiritual without being very religious in the sense of the ceremonial things.

I'd like students to be able to go to school without hearing the words “That's so gay,” or “You faggots” in the halls. At all. I would like to make those words on the same plane as the “N” word. Because to many people the word “faggot” has the same connotation as the “N” word.

I love Europe. I went two summers ago on a choir tour through UNL. I love London. I love British accents. I love the theater there. I love the chicness of everything.

Ten years from now I will be in New York City with an up-and-coming theater company that does new shows that push the envelope of both theater and what is considered the norm by our society's standards. I will be in love with someone who loves me back. And I'll go home every day and I'll feel good about what I've done.

What I'm looking forward to in New York City is the life, the abundance of life, of living. The fact anywhere in the city anything could be happening. And I mean anything. 

I love shoes, interesting kinds of shoes.

I would trade lives for one day with Dick Cheney. I'd like to just sit down with George Bush and just talk to him for a really long time, have a nice long discussion. I'd be a little worried about the heart though.

My editor from (the school) newspaper told me I had to say how much I like (working on the) newspaper. I like newspaper a lot.

I read the Journal Star every morning while I have a cup of coffee. I started by reading the comics. And I love the opinion page, letters to the editor, some of them I'll just get so angry about.

It's a great way to start your day, getting very passionate about something. I like knowing what's going on. You can have better discussions with people.

INTERVIEW BY JoANNE YOUNG | PHOTO BY DIOR AZCUY