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Ezra Thomas: "Give 100% effort, 100% of the time!"

Author: Magnolia Limandibhratha ('24)


“I didn’t want to graduate at all,” said Ezra Thomas, “When I think about BAIS, I’ve got nothing but good memories.”


Seniors are tiptoeing on a tightrope: juggling stacks of college applications, balancing between sports and academics, and making the most of their last memories as high schoolers. Although they might feel unprepared for life, seniors often anticipate the transition after graduation from one stage of life to another. But what really goes on after graduation day?


Photo courtesy of Ezra Thomas


Ezra Thomas, a graduate of the class of 2021, is majoring in English Secondary Education at Grand Canyon University after being inspired by the English teachers at BAIS. He said, “There were some great English teachers like Ms. LaMertha and Mr. Squiers who not only taught about English but life knowledge as well, specifically how to prepare you for life.” As a result, he saw how these teachers made a difference in their student’s lives and aimed to do that himself.


Ezra uses three words to describe himself: reserved, empathetic, and passionate. First, reserved: he enjoys being around people but lets others do most of the talking. Second, empathetic: Ezra grew up in a mix of three different cultures, American, Korean, and Indonesian, forcing him to constantly evaluate things from a different perspective, which did not naturally come to him. He said it forced him to develop in a way where he was always conscious of how other people felt and their comfort in a situation. Third, passionate: he’ll do the things he loves doing in life to the best of his ability, one example being basketball. “I will workout and shoot baskets every day, passionate and dedicated to the things I enjoy,” he said.


What do you think of Indonesia, especially after leaving?


When asked about Indonesia, he says he wants to live here. He often encounters Indonesians speaking negatively about their homeland, asking him, “Why wouldn’t you want to go to America where everything is nice?” However, to him, Indonesia is home. He said that he loves not only the people in Indonesia but also its natural beauty, culture, and language.


Photo coutesy of Ezra Thomas


If you could go back to your high school days, is there anything you’d change?


He had two answers: reducing time spent on his phone and attempting better relationships within his class earlier in high school.


First, he said that he’d use his time to hang out and create relationships with people instead of using his time on his phone.


Secondly, he said that his class, the class of 2021, came together and meshed as a class in their junior year. Ezra said, “We were kind of split up into smaller groups and did not know each other as well until junior and senior year.” He says he wished to reach out to them and learn more about them earlier in high school.


Photo courtesy of Ezra Thomas


What would you like to say to the graduating students or high school students in general?


He tells them to treasure the next 6 or 7 months together as a class together as BAIS student because “once you’ve graduated you cannot go back to being a BAIS highschool student again.” He says not to neglect your relationships but to treasure them, as it would be difficult to see them again. In addition, he says that our relationship with God is most important.


He said, “I was scared that life wouldn’t be as good after graduation, and I was scared I would be less fulfilled. But, God provided me with so much comfort and blessings I don’t deserve after highschool. God will provide you the same sense of peace and comfort that you have now, and it will always be constant with that. It will not go away as you leave the little BAIS bubble.”


What do you think about the word “alumni”?


Ezra says the word “alumni” makes him feel old and nostalgic. In addition, he says that when he thinks of BAIS, he has nothing but amazing memories and looks back on his time fondly, saying, “I don’t see how my highschool experience could overall be better; great friends, teachers, classes at BAIS that really prepared me spiritually to go out into the world post highschool. So many good athletic experiences, like winning IISSAC”.


Although he enjoyed winning IISSAC, he said that most of his fond memories were from the everyday practices with “the boys”: sprinting, shooting, and smiling. “None of the other teams expected us to be that good,” he said. After getting 5th place the previous year in 2018 , no one other than their own team expected them to win. According to Ezra, having confidence in the team is the mentality necessary to win. The entire team worked incredibly hard during practices because they wanted to win. Despite their obstacles, their hard work was worth it after winning IISSAC.


When asked which IISSAC sport he enjoyed the most, Ezra answered soccer IISSAC, even though basketball is his favorite sport. He explained he found it more entertaining to win soccer IISSAC because of its intensity and challenge; there were more teams to play against, unlike Basketball IISSAC when the team won the finals by a whopping 30 points.


Photo courtesy of Ezra Thomas


What do you like the most about basketball?


“The sacrifices you made for the team are special and there are no other places you could find that other than basketball,” Ezra noted.


He said that entering the game with four other starting players with a goal in mind and achieving that goal is beautiful. Basketball is a sport that forces you to place trust in the team. This kind of trusting relationship and experiencing intense physical hardship with another is not only difficult to encounter in other sports, but also life itself.


With Basketball IISSAC coming soon in February, Ezra recounts his experiences of IISSAC and how it brings together the team, creating an everlasting bond like no other.


“You travel with the team, room with the team, and eat meals with the team; you do everything with the team. But what makes IISSAC worthwhile is working your best to the point of winning. Knowing in your heart that you gave your 100% to be the greatest player and team you could be, and that you’ve worked so hard to get to the point you can win, is truly what makes IISSAC worthwhile,” he said.

One thing he’d say to current IISSAC players is to enjoy IISSAC. Not only that, but also to work hard in the initial months before it. “Give 100% effort, 100% of the time and you will not regret pushing yourself,” he said.


Photo courtesy of Ezra Thomas


Furthermore, he explained that there are many factors to consider that make a basketball team great. First are the individual people willing to put in thousands of repetitions of simple shots, dribbles, and sprints. With the team in mind, the other most crucial qualities are the confidence and selflessness of the individual player. Having confidence in yourself, you believe that whatever shot you take, you’re going to make it. “You’re not shooting to miss.” Then, to have the selflessness to make the pass rather than taking the shot yourself.


“Although you’re the best player and put in the work, only one player cannot win the team a siege; maybe a couple of games, but not a championship, and definitely not IISSAC,” Ezra further said. Moreover, another quality is having humility. The humility to sit on the bench when the coach tells you to and having trust in their plan instead of following your own, instead of attempting to achieve your own goal without the team’s best interest in mind.


In his high school basketball team, Ezra played the center, a position near the hoop that the tallest and strongest player usually played on a team. He was deemed most suitable for the position with his height (6ft 6) taller than the average player in Indonesia. But in the US, where the average player is much taller than in Indonesia, his play style has adapted to complement more shooting guard qualities, often playing farther from the hoop and shooting from the 3-point line.


How do you feel about the viral video on Instagram?


To explain the story behind the viral video, Derrick Michaels, the first D1 Indonesian player who goes to Ezra’s university, is an Indonesian celeb-gram who also plays for the Indonesian national team. A chance encounter at Chick-fil-A resulted in Ezra speaking Indonesian to Derrick and becoming friends with him. When Rocky, a guy who films Indonesian basketball, was filming a promotional video with Derrick, he invited Ezra to wear a PERSIB jersey and speak Indonesian in the viral basketball video. The president of PERSIB and the Bandung basketball team, Teddy, even commented on the video and it became popular with almost 2 million views on Instagram.


“It was fun for sure. A bunch of the guys in the Indonesian National Team were texting me, saying I should play for the national team. It was so crazy and so many people were texting me. It’s still crazy to think about,” said Ezra Thomas.


To answer the initial question of what really goes on after graduation day, looking at where Ezra is right now, life can be unpredictable at times. But, it is this unpredictability that defines life.

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