If I had to describe Ishan I would probably call him a “Jack-of-all-trades,” but even that is false. With the “Jack of all trades, master of none” phrasing there is no credit given to all that Ishan has done—which happens to be a lot. Ishan is an academic weapon, to put it simply, and a compassionate, hilarious friend.
Ishan has been at Keystone since 1st grade, but there was the experimental three years where he served at SAA before returning to Keystone in 8th grade. Now a senior, he has spent a total of eight years gerrymandering in our classrooms. I’m not joking about the gerrymandering; he seriously does it every single day– it’s a game to him (if you don’t know what gerrymandering is, I invite you to browse Google, where you can dive into the colorful, yet complicated world of redistricting). Ishan is highly involved in Keystone extracurriculars as a member of Model UN, Academic World Quest, and serving as a President of Wellness Council. Despite being a part of these clubs, he is involved in several other extracurricular activities including the Youth Advocates, a youth lead advocacy group that promotes comprehensive sexual education. He says that being a part of YA is one of the best experiences as he gets to talk about topics he is passionate about with friends. YA provides great opportunities to its members, such as going to the Texas Capitol for the Annual “Advocacy Day” to talk to representatives. Besides free food, fun parties, advocacy, and promoting youth leadership, YA also offers service hours or stipends for attending each meeting– not too shabby, eh? As a senior who won’t be able to rejoin next year, Ishan (and the other Keystone Seniors in YA) encourage other high school students to apply for next year’s cohort. Because of YA, Ishan was able to land a position as a staffer for Rep. Jose Menendez this last summer. He said his experience as a staffer was interesting because it was a lot of work, but at the same time he got to talk to a bunch of cool people (and plenty of crazy people on the phone). To have an opportunity like this was vital in developing interpersonal and social skills, he said, because to succeed in politics, you have to know how to talk to people and make connections. Having these connections and experiences, Ishan will surely take the world by storm after college, where he plans to major in either Political Science or Public Policy at some big college somewhere. Knowing these ambitions, it makes sense why his favorite classes are the History and English courses. While science isn’t his favorite, he did mention that he would miss Mrs. Steinhelper and Envi Sci.
Despite all of these activities and applying to 17 colleges this past fall, Ishan was still able to make time for his friends. Whether it was something big like Friendsgiving or something small like getting dinner and ice cream, Ishan was there to brighten up the room with lively conversation. I will never forget the time we went to this small Vietnamese Cafe and engaged in banter with the host, who kept calling Ishan “Chicago” since he was wearing his UChicago sweatshirt. We laughed and cackled all throughout our meal, ignoring the looks we got from the two middle-aged couples who happened to hear all of our conversation. Ishan says that his favorite memories are the theater productions and school trips, where he gets to see his classmates in their element–times where we all shine together as a class. The Class of 2024 has a unique closeness and support system that no other class in the past has had (according to Mr. Handmaker) and this makes our trips to be some of the best weeks of the year– we bond with some classmates we aren’t as close with and create valuable memories with friends while exploring new locations. Ishan said his favorite trip was our grade’s unique trip to Tennessee, where we had the most free time out of any trip and didn’t have a strict schedule. Aside from class trips, he also loved the France trip that the Travel Society went on last summer. But how does he do it all? Ishan says that it comes down to compromise, “Sometimes you have to work even when your friends are hanging out to create free time in the future…but at the same time senior year shouldn’t be spent alone in a room typing on a computer. You have to allow yourself to go out and relax and enjoy yourself. It all comes down to managing your time well and being willing to give up some fun for work or some work for fun.” So current juniors, take that to heart. As one of his favorite artists says,”I only know how to do one thing: and that’s me.” Ishan is unafraid to be his full unadulterated self.
Ishan has a bright future ahead of him and I wouldn’t be shocked if he ended up being a head of some UN committee one day. He’s even got the media training down– replying with “No comment” when asked about his driving skills after recent criticisms. But in all seriousness, I couldn’t be happier to call him a friend.
