Jayprakash Patel is a senior at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School. COVID-19 and virtual learning has created different school experiences for every student and I had a chance to ask Jayprakash some questions about his high school experience.

How did having a full year of online learning affect you?

To be honest, it helped me in some classes. But for calculus, I wasn’t able to learn properly because we were home and if we were in school, I would have done way better than versus when we were home. Other than that, it was fine. Just not being able to see your friends everyday, but other than that, everything else was good.

What extracurricular activities or sports did you participate in?

I’m on the varsity swim team at school. I am in NHS…ACS… Wevolve, I am in the autism awareness club and [the] science Olympiad.

You mentioned that you’re on the swim team. How has it been being a part of the team throughout your high school career?

First of all, it’s all grades [9-12], so you get to meet people from different grades, even though it’s only three grades, but you get to have fun with them. And it’s not just about swimming, but you get to build a bond with these people and you get close with them overtime, as the season goes on. We all have our inside jokes and stuff and it’s fun. It’s a good experience.

How did COVID-19 and online learning for a whole year affect your experience with the swim team?

One thing that s—– was that we had to do virtual swim meets. Not on Zoom or anything, but the other school wouldn’t come to the pool at the same time, so we would swim and our coach would time us, and the other school would swim and their coach would time them. And they would compare the times and see who won that specific race faster, and based on that, we got our points. So that kind of s—– because being able to see the teams in person and cheer on your team was fun, whereas during our meets, it was just our own school swimming. It was not that fun. Then another thing is, we had to wear our mask as soon as we got outside the water. Our masks would be dripping wet with chlorine and stuff as soon as we got out of the pool. The referees would get really mad if we didn’t put our masks on, and that was one really annoying thing about swim team during COVID. And we didn’t get that much pool time, so we did a lot of dry land practice. We did running and stuff, and we barely even got to swim because the pool was very limited.

Now that your high school career is coming to an end, what are your plans for the future?

Well, my plan is to graduate with my masters of science degree and become a physician assistant and specialize in emergency medicine, and live a nice, successful life, and get the car of my dreams. I really want a Mercedes G Wagon, so that’s one thing that I want to get in my future. But we’ll see where time takes us.

What was the most memorable experience you’ve had at JFK?

The NHS induction ceremony. That was memorable. And the breast cancer walks. Those were memorable. And then Mrs. McCaig taking my phone away. That was memorable. Oh, the day we left! March 13, 2020. The day we left for good.

What are you most looking forward to in the Mr. JFK competition?

I’m looking forward to seeing other people’s talents. I’m looking forward to doing my talent. I’m also looking forward to that entire week, where you just run around the school and tell people to vote for you. You go up to freshmen who you don’t even know and the sophomores. I know some of the juniors because they’re in my AP Bio class and other classes, but the freshmen and sophomores who I don’t know, you know, just go up to them and tell them “Hey, vote for me for Mr. JFK.” All that kind of fun stuff. I’m looking forward to it.

What advice would you give to your freshman self?

Just have fun and don’t be so worried about [school]. Keep your grades up but don’t make that your main focus. You’re in high school to have fun with people, to meet people and just live your life to the fullest. Another thing is, don’t let other people bring you down because life is going to have a lot of those types of people. Don’t let those people bring you down because if you start from ninth grade, you’re just going to keep doing it as you get older.

Overall, how were your four years at JFK?

Terrible! No, just kidding. There have been a lot of ups and downs. I like it more than I liked middle school, but there have been some good days, some bad days. Ninth grade was nice. Tenth grade, some of it was good, some of it was bad. Junior year was just rough because we were virtual the entire time. The classes that I had, some of them were pretty hard to take virtually, like calculus. Senior year is going good as well. I would say I had a good experience.

Would you like to thank any teachers, coaches, or faculty?

Oh, hell yeah! Are you ready for this? I would like to thank Mrs. Lesniak because I feel like, no matter what, she’s always there for you and she’s always ready to listen to you complain about anything. I always complain to her and she’s just there. She actually listens to you. She’s just a really nice teacher. And then another teacher I had this year, Mr. McFadden. I feel like, every time I walk into his class, it’s just a whole different environment because we all just have so much fun in that class. Everybody in that class is so much fun. There are a mix of students. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors in that class. It’s a really fun class and he makes it really fun. He connects with all of us, he talks with all of us. And my coach, my swimming coach. Also a really, really, really nice man. Coach Kohutanycz, he’s also my boss at work. He always makes jokes with us. He’s very understanding too. His philosophy is that your family comes first, your school comes second, and swimming comes third. So if you can’t come to practice or something because you have a family or a school issue, he’ll totally understand. He’s very understanding and a very caring person. So those three teachers I would like to thank. Mrs. Lesniak, Mr. McFadden, and my coach.