We had a chance to sit down with freshman Rohan Jhunjhunwala, a student who is not afraid to voice his opinions.
Freshman Jhunjhunwala has a busy schedule, going from Robotics, Mathletes, Mock Trial, and even Crew. Always going out of his way to challenge himself, Jhunjhunwala balances this schedule with goals of achieving a perfect GPA. He talks about his detailed opinions on the new schedule, life goals, and his best moment at Malvern in this Student of the Issue.
Where are you from?
I was born in New Brunswick (New Jersey), but my parents immigrated from India.
Where did you go before Malvern and why did you choose to come here?
I came to Malvern in sixth grade. I felt a positive atmosphere and fell in love with the campus much more than Devon Prep. I felt like Malvern had more positive opportunities.
What are some of the activities that you are involved with at Malvern and how are those going?
I have been involved in many activities, such as Crew, Varsity Wrestling, the stock market game, Robotics, Mathletes, Academic competition, Speech and Debate, and Mock Trial. These experiences have taught me to time manage better and have enriched me positively. I especially enjoyed speech and debate, and I think they all went well.
What are some things that you like to do in your free time?
I enjoy doing a lot of things in my free time. I usually have to do work to keep up with my impossible self-assigned course load, but I can sometimes game on my iPad. Lately, however, I cannot say that the Chromebooks have been one of [my pastimes]. The chromebooks are the most literal garbage I have ever seen. Pardon my mini rant here, but come on. Chrome OS is literal trash. I can not do anything at all. Join the new revolution, people. Bring in a laptop. Bring back the library. What is with this “21st century learning”?
Biggest goal for the year?
Three things. Do well, learn a lot, and have fun. I used to have lofty perfect GPA goals, but it is difficult to balance so many activities and keep a lofty GPA.
Many people at Malvern know your dislike of the new block schedule. Why do you hate the new schedule? What would you change about it?
So, just a quick word on the schedule here. I know I have talked about it to death. We get less done. Seriously, the scheduling professionals need some work. Any number of improvements could help. One suggestion (credit to Mr. Zagursky) is that we could make the 3rd period the long block. That way, shortened schedules would take away from the classes more fairly while maintaining a double period for labs as well as to lengthen lunch. Another thing is that it doesn’t take 0 minutes and 0 seconds to get to class. Please cut us a break. Stop fudging the numbers. 4th period is not 60 minutes, its like 55.
Anything else you would change about Malvern?
Just a word to the administration. One suggestion I would like to say that this school is not heading in the right direction and I am seriously suspicious of the 4 percent raise in tuitions because it is surely is not going in to our computers. Go back to when we had those macs. What was wrong with them?
Tell us about your athletic career.
I started involved with a lot of sports (like) soccer, swimming baseball, and tennis, to name a few. To be honest, I did not take working out seriously enough. Now, I have been training hard with Varsity Wrestling and Novice Crew. I might not be the best wrestler at all. In fact, I am not even close. I also have the second or third worse erg times. But I am improving. I now even have the bench press record, and I can now do pull ups. I feel like I am now in good shape.
Best moment at Malvern?
My best moment was highest GPA award in seventh grade. I had put in a year of impossible effort, and it paid off. I couldn’t pull it off this year. Good game Max (McCool). But I will be taking lots of AP’s next year. Who knows. Don’t write me off yet.
What are your goals to achieve post-college?
I would like to be lawyer. To be honest, my goal for college is to go to college as a coxswain at Harvard, win the Harvard Yale Regatta (rowing race between Harvard and Yale), and (to) become a lawyer. To do this, I need to continue to time manage effectively and get my grades up.
