Senior Spotlight: Kethan Shirodkar (12-2)
Arjun Ahya (11-1)
How are you feeling about the whole college admissions process so far?
It's definitely stressful, but I feel like I’ve been pretty on top of it. I know what I want to do, I know where I want to go, I know where I’m going to apply early, Princeton, so I’m putting all my eggs in that basket and hopefully it works out. I’ve got all the supplements ready, I’ve stayed on top of it so I’m feeling confident, and I know I’ve got good backups.”
Do you know what you want to major in?
I’m not 100%, but probably something science or math related. For Princeton I’ll probably go chemistry, or statistics
What is your favorite part about the masterman baseball and basketball teams?
My favorite part about playing sports at Masterman is just hanging with the guys. At least for our grade, there’s so many people that play every sport. For basketball, there’s like five of us in our grade, and in baseball, almost a half of the team was us [seniors]. I’m really excited this year for people to come back to the Masterdome for basketball because we’ve been missing the fans, we haven’t had them since the first half of freshman year, but it was nice to see all those people come out to the baseball games.
Photo courtesy of Kethan Shirodkar (12-2)
If you could relive any memory from your entire time in high school, what would it be?
It would probably be at spirit week, the basketball game this past year. I don’t know how many threes it was but it was three after three, I was raining them down. If it’s not that, I would have to say the day of my prom. Although it wasn’t really in school, it was crazy. In the morning I went to Penn for an equity summit, in the afternoon I had a baseball game which we won, and then in the evening I went to prom with an amazing girl. It was just a great day overall, and showed me that no matter how hectic things are, it always works out in the end.
What are you most looking forward to for your senior year?
I’m most looking forward to being done with everything. I really hope early admissions works in my favor so I can forget about college and just enjoy the school year. I mean I enjoy being at school, but the work tires you out, it burns you out. I’m excited to let all the work be done, and hang out with my friends everyday.
What is one piece of advice you could give on how to do well in school, and be ready for when it’s time for college admissions?
Set internal deadlines. My mom has been really on me about setting deadlines, and it helps to have someone pushing you. I’ve also had to set my own deadlines, because I know that I want to apply by November 1st. I told myself ‘Okay, if I write all my supplements and have rough drafts by mid-September, I’ll have a month and a half to tweak them, send them to people, re-word them, even rewrite an entire essay.’ They’re not too long depending on the school. I think just setting internal deadlines, being on top of your stuff, and knowing where you really want to go and aiming for that.
Why are you a Baltimore sports fan?
That’s a good question. My dad was born and raised in Baltimore, so when he moved here and met my mom, he raised me as a Ravens fan. My whole life I’ve been wearing Ravens jerseys, but I still support the Eagles, and the Phillies. Baltimore only has two teams, so anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge Sixers fan, I’ll always talk basketball with anyone who wants to talk basketball. I’m still a diehard Phillies and Eagles fan, but if they ever play the Ravens or Orioles in the Super Bowl or World Series, I’m rooting for the Baltimore team.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where and why?
A place I really want to go is Australia, I’ve never been but it seems really cool. There’s no gun violence there, and everything seems well run. I also want to go to the Great Barrier Reef before it gets ruined by global warming. The only problem would be all the poisonous animals.
If you could take any class again for the first time, what would it be?
8-2 was without a doubt my favorite class of all time. It was Gilken’s first year teaching, and the teachers told him ‘Good luck with that class. You’ve got a bunch of crazy kids and you’re going to have a hard time.’ He did, we got reported by six different teachers in a week, and we were worried we weren’t going to be able to go on any of the end of the year trips. But, we got through the year and I made so many memories, from roof basketball during guidance to watching March Madness in class, to playing last man standing with the student teacher Ms. Alyssa— she was awesome too—to the end of the year trips. Honestly, the trip to D.C wasn’t worth it at all, but Dave & Busters and Neshaminy were fun. I made so many memories being in the craziest class, and it’s a shame that I haven’t seen some of those people since 8th grade. I made some lifelong friendships in that class, and some friendships that ended but were fun while they lasted. If I could relive any class, it would 100% be 8-2.
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
A hot dog is NOT a sandwich because a sandwich is two separate pieces of bread with something in the middle. A hot dog bun is one continuous bun with a dog in the middle. End of story.