Student of the Issue: Will Aprahamian ‘23

Will Aprahamian, a sophomore at Malvern Prep, exemplifies the core values of Truth, Unity and Love in his everyday life through service, academics and athletics.

Will Aprahamian is more than a typical high school student, he is someone who serves his community and helps others in ways that many do not. Involved in athletics, academics and activities, Will is a well rounded student, deserving of acknowledgement. 

Aprahamian, a sophomore, is actively involved both in Malvern’s community as well as his community at home. 

While in quarantine over the spring and summer months, Aprahamian and his older sister helped create a fundraiser to raise money for the Chester County food bank.  

“We were all pretty bored and just realized that the world wasn’t doing well so we just wanted to help our community,” Aprahamian said. 

Aprahimian and his sister came up with the idea to distribute lawn signs to their community with the proceeds going to the Chester County food bank. These signs had the title “HOPE,” which stood for “Helping Other People Eat.”

“A friend of ours in New Jersey was doing a campaign to help first responders and we thought we could do something like this in our community. We were thinking about who we could help right now, so we talked to the foodbank and the foodbank really needed our help,” he said.

The HOPE sign campaign was a way for Aprahimian to keep busy during the monotonous time during quarantine, while also giving back to his community. 

“I probably spent two to three hours a day just making sure everything was an organized process. We got the idea in mid-April and then it took about two weeks to plan and make an Instagram and then in the beginning of May we began to put the signs out,” said Aprahamian.

Even though he knew it would not be easy, Aprahamian was determined to help out the community in whatever way he could. 

“We had a ton of doubts about it and we weren’t sure how far this would spread and if all of Chester County would be able to get a lawn sign,” Aprahamian said.

Due to the pandemic, the foodbank wasn’t accepting food donations, so any bit of money that Aprahimian and his sister raised went a long way. 

“The signs cost $5 to make and it was a donation of $15, everything went straight to the foodbank.” “We ended up raising $8,170,” he said.

This experience was very eye opening for Aprahamian and he learned a lot about himself and his community. He was able to help out those in need and showed what brotherhood truly means.

“I definitely learned a ton from this [experience] I learned you can have your doubts when you start something new, but as you progress,  as you work at it you will definitely see progression,” Aprahamian said.

It is easy to see how devoted Aprahimian is to helping others and he is just as dedicated to Malvern’s community and the academics and athletics that come with it. 

“I like how we can focus on academics, and then the sports are also great.”

Aprahimian has been actively involved on Malvern’s campus. He is a part of many different clubs as well as sports. 

“I’m on the golf team right now, I play for my CYO basketball team. I’ve played [golf] since about eight or nine,” said Aprahamian.

Aprahamian has also expressed his feelings about online learning that took place at the beginning of the year, as well as the gradual hybrid plan that was put into place. 

“It definitely took some time to adapt, the challenging part was just time management,” he said.

As are the views of many, Aprahimian felt strongly about the importance of being in school and the difficulties that came with learning virtually.

“The hardest part [of online learning] is test taking on virtual and just talking to the teacher. Another hard part was just the workload, it just got a bit much,” Aprahamian said.

While virtual learning was challenging for many, Aprahemian made sure to praise the faculty and staff on their hard work to provide a learning experience beneficial to all. 

“I think that the teachers knew a lot, they were definitely well prepared for this,” said Aprahamian. 

Now that Malvern is back, fully in person, Aprahamian has taken the time to get himself more involved with the Malvern community through various clubs and activities.

“[This year] I signed up for stock market games, mathletes, yearbook and DECA.” 

Since getting settled into sophomore year, Aprahamian has felt more comfortable with both his friends and teachers 

“I feel like [this year] I know a couple kids to help with homework, I feel like I’m right in the middle of highschool,” Aprahamian said.

Malvern offers many different outlets for students to take part in, but Aprahamian feels that what Malvern has to offer goes beyond one particular item. 

“I would just say the relationships with teachers and how interactive that is. We can just walk around campus, we can just be regular kids. When I get out of Malvern, I just have that extra interaction with people and just be more friendly with people,” said Aprahamian.