Get to Know: Anjali Kurian

by Anjali Kurian

I’m Anjali Kurian, one of the seniors at Niskayuna. I still can’t believe that it’s my last year of High School. A lot has happened these past four years and I’ve made memories I’ll keep forever.

Something I’ve been a part of for almost my whole life is CDMA. It’s short for Capital District Malayalee Association, a group mainly for South Indians from the state of Kerala. The CDMA has a section called Mayuram, and it’s the children’s part of the group. In 9th grade, I was the treasurer, and in 10th grade, I was the secretary. We did many volunteer activities as a group. One of my favorites was singing carols at nursing homes and the St. Peter’s Rehab Center.

I’m also a part of the French Club. I’ve been one of the treasurers for the past two years. This year I’m the secretary. My favorite activity in French Club was reading french fairy tales to all the elementary schools. The best part was seeing the kids excited to learn French words and wanting to interact with us.

On top of all this, I’ve also been playing volleyball since 8th grade. My favorite moment was from our sectional finals game last year when we won against Shenendehowa in 4 sets, halting their 9-year consecutive win streak. I’m so proud of that game because we worked long and hard for the victory, and because of us, Nisky finally won after many years. I was also proud of myself because at the start of the season, I was mostly on the bench. But, halfway through the season, I became a starting setter. For the past two years, I’ve also played Club Volleyball for the Jaguars VBC, and I was a captain for both years. My favorite tournament with that team was the Mizuno Boston Volleyball Festival. It was three days long and there were almost 100 courts in the convention center.

In the future, I plan on majoring in Nursing and will hopefully get my BSN. I want to major in nursing because of the stories my mom told about taking care of her patients and making them happy. I’ve always been interested in medicine and I love caring for people. I’m not sure what specialty I want to work in but I’m interested in working in either the ICU or PICU. As of now, I haven’t decided what college I want to go to.

Some advice I’d like to give from my experience is to start your college applications early and have a list of colleges you possibly want to apply to during junior year or the summer before senior year so you can visit and learn more about them. Also, I know everyone loves procrastinating, but make sure that you get all your work done. It will help you earn higher grades and you’ll thank yourself in the future. If you are bad at keeping track of deadlines, make sure to get a planner or notebook: it will be super helpful!