Yana Kharva, an 18-year-old senior and varsity track star at JFK Memorial High School, is heading to Rutgers University to begin her journey toward a career as a physician assistant. During our interview, she shared that her passion for healthcare grew from wanting to help others and make a difference in her community.
I’m aware you’re committed to Rutgers majoring in biology. What is your plan after high school?
Yana: After high school, as you said, I’m going to Rutgers. My plan after high school, after majoring in biology, is to get my bachelors and then get my masters in PA, which is a physician assistant, and I’m thinking of possibly being a PA in pediatrics.
What’s your earliest memory that inspired your chosen career goals?
Growing up I’ve always watched medical shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” which got me excited, and I volunteered in the hospital and did things like that which made me really like the environment.
What’s your favorite class in high school and what made it special?
My favorite class in high school was definitely AP Bio. Even though it was a lot of work, I loved the class especially because Mrs. McCaig is one of my favorite teachers, and at the end, I kinda realized it wasn’t really that bad and made me more excited to do biology in college.
If you had senioritis this year, how hard did it affect you, and how did you deal with it?
I honestly think I set myself up for failure, because in the first semester, all my classes were really light. I had classes like art history, digital photography, gym and in second semester it hit kinda rough. I have really bad senioritis right now, I have so many zeroes in the grade book right now, but I’m trying!
What year was the most difficult out of all the 4 years of high school?
In my opinion, it would definitely be sophomore year. A lot of people say junior year, but a lot of the classes people take junior year I ended up taking my sophomore year, like Calc AB, Calc BC and stuff like that. I think it was just a lot with the fact I was getting ready to prepare for my SAT’s, so it was definitely sophomore year.
How did you balance your social life and AP classes?
Genuinely, to me the key is to learning to work with your classmates, because in AP classes teachers usually push the workload onto you, rather than doing most of the teaching, like in honors and S and R- track classes, so you really have to learn to teach each other, and work with other people to find out what works and that’s what makes it easier to balance.
What are your proudest achievements during your high school career?
One of my proudest moments honestly, was when I did really well on an AP Chem test because that was the worst class I’ve ever taken. It was such a hard class and when I got around a 90-100 on a test. It made me so happy and that was one of my biggest achievements.
What is one thing you would tell your freshman self? And if you could give one piece of advice to incoming freshmen about making the most of their high school experience, what would it be?
One thing I would tell my freshman self is to definitely go to all the events, everything the school hosts, do everything! Because a lot with the senioritis as the work gets harder in sophomore year and junior year, you kinda push all the outside activities off because you really need to focus on your work. But I definitely think it’s important to maintain a balance, because looking back, your gonna have the memories and the pictures, so it’s important to make most of what you can do.
I’m also aware you did winter track. How did the team do, and how did it go for you?
We did pretty good, a lot of the girls hit new PR’s [personal records] and I love the track team, they are like a family to me and I really adore the team.
What are you most excited for after graduating and why?
Rutgers is basically a high school 2.0, so I’m kinda excited to see everyone again, and I’ll be excited to do all the events again, and meet new people. I know Rutgers has a lot of Indic clubs so I’m really excited to participate in activities like that.
Who is your biggest inspiration and why?
My biggest inspiration is my dad because hearing his story about sacrificing and coming to America, which I know is a lot of people’s stories, and their background as immigrants, but I think it just makes me push myself a lot more and a lot harder to see just how much he achieved from practically nothing. I have all these things that he gave me, so he really inspires me.
Will you miss high school? Why or why not?
Of course I’ll miss high school because it means I have to leave all my juniors and all my sophomores and all my freshman behind, so I’ll definitely have to come back, because there’s just so many people I’ll have to leave. The senior class were pretty close, but through all the classes I’ve taken, there’s just so many people and so many names I can think of that I’m so sad to leave behind.
What’s a moment from high school that completely changed how you see the world, and how did it impact you?
Honestly, it probably was decision day because it made everything feel real and you kinda just realize all these people, all the memories you made, and all the people you see everyday in the halls, whether you love them, whether you hate them, whether you don’t even know them, it’s crazy that were all just going our different ways… I’ll never see them again, so it’s just all so insane.
