The S-Files: Day in the Life of Senior Svabhu Govindaraj 

The crackling of pool balls in the Campus Center breaks the October morning silence. Senior Svabhu Govindaraj arrives at school at 8:30 sharp, after a speedy trip on I-290.

Like many seniors, Govindaraj is managing the stress of approaching college application deadlines, finals week, and extracurricular engagements. That is why he is especially appreciative of his 9:00 am class: Touch Football.

The senior year physical education requirement often provides necessary breaks from the strictly academic work most would expect during a school day at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). For Govindaraj, that break is especially pleasant. “I get to spend an hour with [fellow senior] Rajat [Baldawa] to start my week,” he said.

After a thrilling session on the gridiron, Govindaraj and Baldawa head to the Campus Center to engage in a favorite pastime of many Mass Academy seniors: pool.

Govindaraj did not play a long game since he had Creative Writing at 10:00 am. Taught by Professor McIntyre, a favorite of Mass Academy students, the class began with some time to fill out course evaluations before launching into the day’s discussion about memoirs.

Though he plans to take primarily history and economics courses in his future endeavors in the humanities, Govindaraj noted his genuine enjoyment of Creative Writing and the ways it allows him to think about life.

By 11:00 am, Govindaraj was back in the campus center preparing for his Probability Theory final with fellow senior Henry Liu. He said “thirty to forty minutes were spent studying very productively.” The rest? Chowing down on a Chipotle Chicken Sub from the Campus Center Food Court. 

After his final class of the day, Govindaraj made a trip back to 85 Prescott Street to sign out and left campus for the day. However, his day was far from over.

Govindaraj, like many MAMS students, takes the highway to and from school. His commute is about 25 minutes, but often includes stops along the way—whether getting a meal at Five Guys or helping other students without transportation. On this particular day, Govindaraj stopped at Shrewsbury High School to drop Lavana at her driving lesson. After that, he headed home to Grafton.

With the end of all of his A-term class finals, Govindaraj did not have any WPI work to finish at home. But like many seniors, he spent his evening writing college supplemental essays. With the University of North Carolina’s October 15th application deadline quickly approaching, Govindaraj focused his time on that application’s two supplemental questions.