Senior Spotlight: Jasmine Gambhir (12-1)

And I think we made it through the end of the piece with a strong ending. I was happy to hear that my family, "didn’t notice anything." In regards to John Powell’s How to Train Your Dragon score… your wish is my command. I mean, we strive to bring the most enjoyable experiences to all of our concert-goers, so I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that John Powell’s pieces are featured in our next set of repertoire.

I understand that you were a captain on the Masterman's Girls Varsity Tennis Team in the fall. Quite an honor. Tell me about this experience. What are some of the more important lessons you have learned as leader of the team?

Well, I must say it’s been a long journey with the team. One of the main things that I’ve taken away from being a leader of the team was that my biggest responsibility was not just to support my team members, but I had to teach them how to support each other. Because I can’t be on every court encouraging my team members at once, they have to do it themselves as well, so I tried to instill this value, hopefully I was successful. And quite frankly, co-captain Connie Zhang taught me the most in this area. She exhibited all the characteristics of a wonderful leader from the very start, from freshman year. And even when we were freshman and our captains probably couldn't concern themselves with us at all, Connie never let me doubt myself, even when I was playing embarrassingly, so, kudos to her for that.

Faux meat over the past few years has become much more advanced. As a vegetarian, perhaps this is a subject of interest to you. Do you enjoy these meat alternatives? What are your favorite places to eat?

Sure, well, since I’ve always been a vegetarian, I don't really have a strong need to include imitation meat in my diet. I can’t lie; it's delicious, but foods like lentils and tofu are a lot more regular in my diet. And these days, vegetarianism in general is getting, you know, exponentially more popular so you can find vegetarian alternatives at pretty much most places. In terms of places that specialize in that, Hip City Veg is probably my favorite spot in Philly. It’s an all vegan restaurant, it has really good burgers and fake chicken nuggets and they have been approved by my meat eating friends, so I highly recommend it.

As a classically trained violinist, you must be familiar with the composer of the score for the animated action-fantasy film How to Train Your Dragon. How do you think the state of our nation during John Powell’s childhood- he was born less than a month after the March on Washington- influenced the power of artistry that led to such works as "Test Drive" and "Romantic Flight" on the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack? Furthermore, how does he balance the Scottish roots in his music, which create such real, vivid imagery as a windy afternoon on the beautiful cliffs of north-west Europe, with the fantastical elements of the story he’s composing for? When I listen to "Test Drive," I feel like John Powell has led me by the hand into his mind’s eye, and is showing me the glorious, interwoven relationship between two dragons as they fight and love one another in a passionate dance for harmony. What do you think?

Luke, this is absurd… next.

Over the past month, I heard that you “spread joy through hilarity.” Would you explain how you came to earn this reputation, and what it means to you?

Well, this really means a lot to me. I couldn't imagine who would be so kind as to say that, so I really appreciate it. Even with teachers or employers, or people who are figures of authority, most interactions benefit from some form of humor. It makes everyone involved happier. I found this out just merely by chance because it’s just my nature to make a lot of jokes. But it’s really an honor to have invoked joy in my classmates, so I’m glad to hear that.

You’ve been coming to Masterman since the 5th grade. Please give us some words to remember your time here.

All I have to say is, whoever said fake it ‘till you make it is a genius.

What is your favorite TV show and why?

I’m quite the TV connoisseur so I have a lot of favorites, but right now I’m gonna have to go basic and say Euphoria because I’ve been watching the new season religiously. And every single detail down to the special effects, the makeup, the characters, the outfits, shows an insane attention to detail from the directors. Plus, I’ve really never been more motivated in my life not to do heroin, so the education quality is truly there. I’d highly recommend Euphoria.