The Zinch Report

This is Part 4 of the All-Star Series. Recently, USA Today came out with their annual All-Academic team, showcasing 20 of the most talented and accomplished high school seniors in America. I was able to catch up with a bunch of them, interviewing them about their high school accomplishments, asking about their college admissions experiences, and begging them to share some of their nuggets of wisdom with y'all. Read my introduction post.

Quick facts:
Vidya just graduated from Herricks High School in New Hyde Park, New York. She will be attending Harvard in the fall. She graduated with a 3.94 GPA (unweighted out of 4.0).

Accomplishments:
Co-founder and president of the Herricks International Children's Aid Program, she spent last summer as a live-in volunteer at the Uluru Children's Home in southern India and has led efforts raising $3,000 for children in India; Intel Science Talent Search semifinalist; Girls State governor; National History Day state winner; NCTE writing award; French Club co-president placed fourth nationally in Le Grand Concours National French Contest; student newspaper co-editor in chief; World Affairs Club; class secretary and student representative to the Board of Education; Mathletes club; National Honor Society chapter president.

Tell us about the Herricks International Children's Aid Program and your experiences as a live-in volunteer in Southern India? What are some important life lessons that you learned from that experience?
The Herricks International Children's Aid Program (HICAP) was something I wanted to start because even though my school had charitable organizations, they were mainly directed to our immediate community and not our community on a global scale. It was hard to grow as an organization during our first year because we were all new and inexperienced. By the second year (my senior year), we really pursued our goals of fundraising and raising community awareness through presentations, selling hundreds of cool t-shirts, and various events. We have made the annual "HICAP dodge-ball tournament" our signature event by raising $2,000 from it this year. It was awesome to see so many teachers and students coming out in full spirit to play dodge-ball, and even more gratifying to know that we were raising money for children in need. Most of the money we raised this year will go to a girls orphanage called the Uluru Children's Home in Southern India, which I visited and volunteered at last summer. These children, currently all in the 2 yr-10 yr age range, were often abused, made to beg, diseased, or abandoned before being taken in by the orphanage. They are incredibly persevering and walk about 2 miles each day, with unicef backpacks but no shoes, to get to their hot and humid schoolhouse. I tried to help them with their English, ate meals with them, brought them presents, taught them some origami and arts and crafts, or helped with their homework. I think that they taught me more--I saw how, even with so much hardship, they were always smiling, always helping each other out and sharing, and always hopeful. I think that if more people saw that, they would realize how we focus too much on ourselves and our own problems and not enough on the problems of others. I hope that HICAP will continue to help orphanages such as these by fundraising or volunteering to give these children the educational opportunities that we are fortunate to have.

What's the craziest science experiment you've ever done?
I usually do behavioral/psychological research because it really interests me the most to see how people act or react and why. I suppose my "craziest" experiment would be a few years ago, when I decided I wanted to find out if eye contact really makes a difference when you are speaking to someone. My parents have always told me to keep eye contact when talking or when giving a speech, since I tend to look down (I think eye contact can be quite awkward at times). Anyway, I decided that to test this, I would videotape various people at my mom and dad's hospital saying the same statement with and without eye contact, and then shuffle the video clips and show them to students at my school and ask the students to rate how truthful they thought the person seemed. My results actually showed that eye contact does matter, it makes you seem more sincere (I guess my parents were right then...)

Of your many achievements, with which one did you feel the greatest sense of satisfaction and fulfillment?
I feel a different kind of satisfaction with every aspect of my life, but I think that besides the satisfaction of giving with HICAP, I also felt the satisfaction of group achievement with the work I did with our newspaper staff as co-editor-in-chief of the newspaper this year. It is very hard to get a group of people together to write and publish a 12 or 16-page newspaper every month in an extracurricular activity. But working on the newspaper was something that made me feel so proud every time it came out and I'd see students actually reading it or reacting to it in the hallways. A newspaper can affect, impact, and reflect a community, and I feel our school newspaper accomplished all of these goals this year. Having put more time into the paper than into anything else in my life, I was satisfied every time it came out.

You are involved with so much. How do you balance it all. What advice would you have for current high school students trying to manage all their responsibilities.
It is hard to balance things, but it becomes easier when you do what you truly love. I involve myself in many things because even though it may be stressful to have so much responsibility, it is a good type of stress that I'm willing to deal with. The things I do aren't a burden for me because I do them willingly and passionately, and I have formed so many friendships and amazing memories through my activities. People often assume that doing a lot of things means you have no free time to hang out, but I often find that in doing "work" I have more fun hanging out with the people I meet than when I have free time. Of course, you can't get to do everything you want in life, since there are only 24 hours in a day, which is a shame. I still haven't gotten to playing guitar or tutoring people or reading Obama's books. But my advice would be to do as much as you can of what you enjoy, and try your hardest. It shouldn't be about the results, it should be about the experience. If you aren't passionate about what you're doing, it's okay to admit that and move on to different responsibilities in life.

Where do you turn for motivation and inspiration?
I am definitely inspired by my older brothers, who are not only intelligent but also incredibly compassionate and charismatic people. I am also motivated by my teachers in school, who never stop setting high standards and encouraging me. My parents are also motivating because they have never questioned my decisions to try out new things or focus on certain things. They are just always proud of whatever I decide to accomplish.

What are your long term goals? What do you want to become, professionally and personally?
Long term, I really have no idea of what I want to become professionally. Some people are surprised at this, others say it's good and that I should wait for college to decide. I am kind of uncertain about my career future because I enjoy a diverse range of activities, so it's hard to choose one or two to focus on. I hope to find a job that incorporates many facets of my life, or at least keep up my interests extracurricularly in college. I would love to publish a book or start a non-profit. As a person, I hope to become someone selfless who can impact the world in some way. I want to travel a lot and expose myself to various cultures and gain knowledge for knowledge's sake.

Give us a little excerpt of part of one of your college application essays. The juciest piece.
(The following essay was on the impact my 10th grade math teacher had on me):

Ms. Lonetto, I found out, was a no-nonsense teacher. She was the one who would go to the door in the middle of a lesson and yell at people in the hallway for not going to class. Once, someone took out a calculator—oh, how he regretted that action during the next 30 minutes as she lectured us on how only a brain and a pencil were necessary for math! And on math test day, woe to the person who did not space his desk exactly five tiles away from the adjacent row. But her strict methods were almost motherly, only making me look forward to each test to gain her appreciation and to prove myself in the class. She made me realize that math is an art that can continuously be perfected.

When we suddenly found out, one bleak morning at the end of 3rd quarter, that she had died in her sleep of a heart attack, my mind was in shock. I couldn't associate her cheerful grin and twinkling eyes with the cold reality of death. As the year went on with our new teacher—one who let us use calculators and gave us note sheets—I realized that even though Ms. Lonetto had left me, her passion for mathematics hadn't. In the end, she was right. I had my choice—the choice to be stellar or mediocre, the choice between passion and nonchalance, the choice to really learn or just listen. If I paid my money—if I put all of myself into what I did and never gave up—then I could choose what I wanted to be.

What advice do you have for high school students trying to get into their dream school? Any college admissions nuggets of wisdom you’d like to share.
I suppose, first of all, you should find out exactly why this school is your "dream school." Is it the feeling you get when you actually walk onto the campus? Is it because of a certain program or professor they have? Is it because of its location? Is it because it's been your dream, or your parents'? I think it's pretty obvious, when you apply to a school, whether you're really passionate about it or not. Make sure you show that passion in your interview and in your application. Spend a lot of time on your application essays, short-answers, supplements and getting recommendations (that's where your talent as a person can shine through the most, rather than your scores) and consider applying early to a school if you know you want to go there. My biggest advice would be to apply places or write essays that you are personally happy with--many of my friends were forced to apply or even go to colleges their parents wanted, and their lack of excitement shows through.

I'm a little biased I know…but I think Princeton rocks! I'm wondering, why did you choose Harvard over Princeton. J
I've had two older brothers go through Harvard, and so I've visited loads of times, met lots of people there, sneaked into a few classes, eaten at the "Hogwarts" dining hall, and just been completely taken in. I don't really know what I want to study in the future, but I think Harvard will give me a well-rounded education and I am sure that it offers many opportunities, as does the location of Boston. I like all the history it has and, contrary to what most people would think, the people I've met there seem very down-to-earth and diverse. I was considering applying to other schools after I got into Harvard early, but after having fallen in love with the place I didn't really want to have to go to other interviews and talk about wanting to go to other schools that I didn't actually want to go to. I actually have never visited Princeton (that's how lazy I am--it's only like an hour away), so I guess I have nothing to compare Harvard to. I suppose I will have to rest my case on the fact, then, that crimson sweatshirts are more attractive than bright orange ones...

What do you think about Zinch.com? Do you believe students are more than just test scores?
Now that I'm graduating and looking back on high school, the things that are important to me aren't the five hours I spent on the SATs or what I got on a final. The things that are most important are the opportunities you take, the talents you pursue, the activities you do, and the things you accomplish not for yourself but for or with the people around you. I'm sure colleges get lots of people with the same test scores and the same grades, and I think (or hope) that what they're really looking for is the thing that makes you different or makes you interesting. Students are more than test scores, more than grades, and most importantly, more than the name of the college they go to. Many of my friends were disappointed with their college rejections and worried that their future is now ruined. But I think that it's more about who you are than the college you go to, and you can make the most of any situation if you focus on who you are as a person rather than what you look like on a sheet of paper. It's worrisome to think that a college must judge you by that sheet of paper, but remember that their judgment isn't everything in life.