Harsh Patel is a senior at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School. He was born on Jan. 10, 2004, in New Brunswick, N.J. He is a smart, hard-working student and is heavily involved in many clubs and activities such as The Academic Team and the Engish Honors Society. In his free time, he enjoys filmmaking and video game design. I was able to contact Harsh and interview him virtually. Here’s how it went.

What’s your overall opinion about JFKMHS?

I think it’s a pretty solid school, although to be honest, I take most of the higher-level classes like you know AP, honors stuff, or at least a decent amount of those, and a lot of those teachers tend to be pretty good.

Did it meet up to your expectations?

I mean, I had zero expectations for high school and I’ve overall enjoyed my time at JFK, so I’d say it met my expectations.

Did you feel like you got the high school experience as shown in movies?

Kind of. I’ve been in clubs and stuff and hung out with people and done tests, but you know, there was also COVID and that has been a real downer on that whole hanging out and standard testing and school dances and stuff.

What kind of clubs and other extracurricular activities were you involved in?

For me, my main clubs are [the] Academic Team, since I’m the captain on that one, and Safety Ambassadors – currently were practicing to do a presentation in front of first graders. English Honors Society, which is basically just a higher-level club. That one has been pretty fun. Since sophomore year, I have been part of the American Cancer Society, but I’ve just decided to not go to any meeting for that. It’s a good introductory club, but once you find clubs you actually like, you know…

Out of all of the clubs and extracurriculars, which one did you enjoy the most?

Probably [the] Academic Team because, you know, I’m captain, I do stuff, it’s important for the club. I like a lot of the folks there. They seem nice.

Will you miss high school?

Oh yeah, definitely. Some of the teachers I have got and other students who I realistically won’t ever talk to again after high school, but they’re nice.

Any favorite teachers?

Not particularly but there’s a few I like. Like before she left, Dr. Jacobson was the nicest teacher I’ve ever had and then there are others like Ms. DePalo and Ms. Kenny where I’ve had them a bunch and I overall pretty like them.

Did you have any regrets during your time in high school?

I’m sure I have, but most of them are fairly unimportant, but I think I’m good.

Any bad habits?

My study skills are terrible and I procrastinate a ton.

What are your plans after high school?

I’m going to college. I’ve been accepted to Rutgers and I enrolled there so I’m gonna go there. New Brunswick specifically. I wanna go into special ed so I gotta go to college for that.

What made you choose that career path?

Well, for me, one of my sisters, Haney, she’s disabled. So, I’ve been helping her with stuff for most of my life. And during COVID, I’ve started doing more than usual like helping her with her therapies and doing her classes with her since they are virtual, and I’ve found that I really like helping her.

Did you have any career plans before that?

Not really. I’ve always been kind of into studies so I had a general idea I wanted a job that helps people, but I never had a specific thing. I had a few options but nothing specific until quarantine.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Probably teaching. I know I’m signing up for the teach grants, so I’m probably gonna teach at some inner-city school for a while.

What’s an accomplishment you’re proud of?

There’s a good amount of stuff in there. One of them, probably the most recent one I can think of, is Academic Team. We had this one competition at this school called Biotech and we ended up making it to playoffs. My group did really well, we were top of our little bracket.

Any hobbies?

I’m interested in filmmaking stuff, so I’ve been learning a lot of stuff related to filmmaking and video game design stuff, like video editing. I know a bit of audio editing. I can photoshop. I’ve been learning 3D modeling.

Do you have any advice you’d like to give out to all of the underclassmen?

At least if you’re like me and in the high-level classes, you’re probably at least a bit of a tryhard so chill out a bit, one bad grade ain’t gonna kill you. Just try to work on it. B’s are fine, your parents might kill you, but overall you should be good. That and work on not procrastinating.