Yousef Abdeelal is a senior student-athlete at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School. Abdeelal is a very outgoing and optimistic person with the ambition to succeed academically. He has had a great impact on many students as well as teachers at JFKMHS.

You played varsity in three different sports, and were captain for all of them, how did you accomplish this?

Abdeelal: Basically, from freshman year, I just did what I had to do. Did what the coaches told me to do, for the most part. I stood out as a leader, I took a lot of blame for things I did not need to take blame for, and really that’s what makes you a leader. So coaches usually saw that, and they made me a captain.

Which faculty member at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School has had the greatest impact on you and why?

No doubt, Coach Creighton. The man has been there with me for four years, by now, throughout all three of the sports I’ve been playing. I see him pretty much all year around, and he’s been giving me great advice since.

How do you handle stress and pressure?

That’s a great question. Usually I combat it right away, anything that’s giving me stress, anything that’s pressuring me or any problem I have; I will face it with all my force. But sometimes it gets over you and I usually let time handle it, if not.

If you could meet one person in history, who would it be and why?

Albert Einstein. I would love to talk to him. I would love to truly see his thoughts about all the things he thought about, like string theory… there’s so many things that died with him that he didn’t get to fully explain.

How have you seen yourself shift as a person from freshman to senior year? Were there any specific events that extremely impacted you?

To be honest, I feel like I really walked in with the same mentality from freshman year to senior year. I really kept the same morals and goals, and I can say I changed as a person just because I got older and learned new things and I learned from experiences and… certain relationships that I’ve had, but other than that, I’d say I haven’t changed much. I’m usually the same person.

How would you explain your mentality and your morals?

Unending, passionate, always going for things, never giving up. I will say things that have impacted me and keep those things – those morals – was definitely me getting injured during the course of the past couple of years. It made the regular things harder and made me even more focused on what I wanted because it became harder to do the things I wanted.

What is the plan after graduation ?

My plan is to go to Rutgers. Middlesex for two years and then transferring out. I’m majoring in applied physics and I plan on getting my associates degree to start substitute teaching; then after that, hopefully I’ll become a teacher after my four years and go back here and coach.

Did you experience bullying when you were younger?

Yes, actually to many people’s surprise, I wasn’t always an athlete or anything; I actually grew up and hated sports, I grew up playing soccer and I hated it. Eventually when I stopped, I got pretty fat and around third to seventh grade I got bullied plenty. By even some of the friends that I say “hi” to nowadays, but of course it’s all in the past. I don’t let those things negatively affect me, but positively affect me, and actually the bullying is what made me start working out. That’s why my transition from seventh to eighth grade is really when I started getting back into it.

What is your biggest memory from your childhood? How would you describe your emotions during this event?

It’s actually a pretty small moment. I remember, when I would take showers, I would always never want to wash my face; and my dad would always get mad at me because I never washed my face. I would make an excuse, saying I would put the shampoo in my hair and let it run down so it’ll clean my face. He asked me why I did it and if it was as good as cleaning my face regularly, I said “no”. He said that’s exactly why, doing things the easy way isn’t always the best way. I’ve stuck with that for a while.

How would you want to be remembered as a person?

I want to be remembered the same way people came before me. Because obviously, I was a freshman at one point and I like to think that some people see me the same way I saw those crazy seniors. I just want to be known as someone who put their all into this school, really tried as hard as they could and didn’t give up.

Advice for anyone coming into JFKMHS?

Do everything you possibly can. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Join sports, they’re families pretty much. That’s really what built a lot of relationships; the best friends I ever had were from sports. But that does not mean stray away from academics. Me personally, I’m carried by my academics right now, my sports are in the past now. Anything I did in the past with sports is not helping me anymore. So I want people to focus on academics and not forget about sports.