Vishva Patel is a senior at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School. Throughout her four years at JFK, Patel has been part of the swim team where she was captain her senior year, an active member and choreographer of the Dance Exchange Program, president of HOSA, and a Student Council and the American Cancer Society member.
Patel is also a hard-working student who has put in multiple hours volunteering, assisting medical professionals in the hospital, and in the English Honor Society. She plans to attend Rutgers University to pursue finance in her upcoming first year of college.
As a student active in many clubs and activities, what advice would you give freshmen or underclassmen about time management and participation in school activities?
Vishva: Don’t overwhelm yourself with numerous AP classes and activities, like after school. If you decide to take on all those roles, do not procrastinate because that will hurt you mentally and physically because you’re going to study up late doing an assignment you could’ve done two weeks ago. You’ll feel exhausted the next morning in class, so work on not overwhelming yourself.
Looking back at your time on the swim team, what is one of the most valuable lessons or skills you have learned that will help you even after you graduate?
When I joined freshman year, I was a timid girl, and I wouldn’t talk to the people I didn’t need to talk to. Later on, once I became an upperclassman, and this year I became one of the captains, much responsibility was thrown on me and definitely made me a better leader. So whenever the underclassmen had questions, they would approach me rather than go up to our coach because I relate to them more. I’d tell them exactly what I went through. They can follow my steps or not, depending on them.
As a consecutive choreographer in the Dance Exchange program for three years, what was the most rewarding moment you experienced when you saw your vision come to life on stage?
Dance Exchange was the most rewarding this year because I was on stage; it was the last 30 seconds of our dance, Garba, that we were performing. That was when I suddenly realized that this would be the last time I was going to be on the JFK stage, performing in front of the whole audience, practically the whole school, and the last time that I’d be seeing the view I saw on stage with all of my friends. These last 30 seconds made me realize that you should want to preserve every moment and not wait until the last minute. But at that moment, I realized that this was the last time, but in many moments, you won’t realize that this is the last time you’ll be doing this.
How has your high school experience shaped the person you are today as you prepare for college?
As I said before, I was very timid during my freshman year. I wouldn’t go out of my personal space to talk to someone that I didn’t need to talk to. But over the years, I’ve learned good communication and leadership skills and how to step out of my comfort zone. Now, I can go up to anyone and talk about the most absurd things, and I would not feel weirded out by myself. I don’t want to feel that people will judge or think weirdly of me. It’s really up to you how you perceive yourself. People will think of you as confident if you’re confident and putting yourself out there.
What keeps you motivated to keep going when you’re overwhelmed with the number of things you must do?
I have immigrant parents, so every time I feel I really can’t do this right now, I think of how much struggle they went through to give me the house I am living in today in America that they couldn’t get the opportunity to. It makes me think that I’m not letting go of everything I have: the opportunities I have that so many other people don’t, just because I’m too tired.
If I can’t get myself to push through the week or study for a test, I think of my immigrant parents, who work way too hard for me to just scroll on TikTok or Instagram. There are so many people out there who deserve so much more than me.
Of all the classes you’ve taken these past four years, what class do you regret taking and why?
There’s no class that I regret taking. There were some challenging classes like AP Chemistry and AP Calculus BC, but at the end of the day, they shaped how I put myself in my work zone. They taught me how to lock-in during my senior year when I had like 500 other things going on: college apps, SATs, extracurriculars, and other AP classes in general. It was hard, but it shaped who I am today. I thought, “If I can go through AP Chem or Calculus BC, I can go through anything” because I went through those [AP classes] along with everything else going on in my life.
