When one thinks of “the perfect student” some may think of someone with straight A’s, a varsity player or even a student leader. Every once in a while, there comes a student who can tackle all of these tasks. Junior Karen Grewal is one of these students.
Juggling four APs, varsity basketball and track as well as the role of ASB vice president, Grewal truly embodies the definition of a “perfect” student. However, that title doesn’t come easy. Lots of time is put into making sure she pays attention to each of her activities.
Right when the closing bell rings, Grewal goes straight to the big gym for basketball practice. After two hours of conditioning and exercise, she goes home with a fried brain and body.
“I go to my practice and that usually takes about two hours,” she said. “It’s pretty draining, so by that time my brain and body are tired.”
However, a hearty meal with her family is enough to help her focus and regain energy. Then she starts her night off studying. Maintaining all A’s in her four AP classes is not an easy task.
“The APs I’m taking are AP Psychology, AP Environmental Science, AP U.S. History and AP Lang,” she said. “With my classes, I always strive to be a straight-A student. I always have to study if I want to ace my tests.”
Most days, she finds herself studying better in the morning.
“I usually get a lot of studying done in the morning,” Grewal said. “I tend to be a morning person, so I like waking up early to get a lot of my work done.”
Grewal explained that the key to keeping such a diligent schedule is good habits.
“It’s really just good habits and time management,” she said. “I obviously have to get good habits and manage my time well in order for me to keep this balance.”
However, Grewal’s busy schedule has taken its toll and created some challenges that she had to overcome.
“I don’t really have much time,” she said. “I feel like I’m more inclined to be a homebody with my busy schedule. Nevertheless, I put those feelings to the side, and try to utilize my time to the best of my ability. That allows me to save time for my friends and pets.”
Although there isn’t much time left to discover other hobbies, she feels grateful that she enjoys basketball as an activity to look forward to at the end of the day. When one may think two hours of conditioning and exercising may be arduous, Grewal views it as a blessing in disguise.
“Having this schedule doesn’t leave much wiggle room for different activities and hobbies that I have, but the good thing is that basketball is one of my favorite hobbies to do,” Grewal explained. “I’m almost glad that we have practice every day.”
As someone who spent a lot of time carefully choosing her classes and activities, with the help of her older sister, Grewal plans on continuing to take on even harder challenges in the upcoming year.
“My big sister was always an inspiration to me,” she said. “She really helped me choose the best extracurriculars to join, and even the right classes. In the future I hope to become ASB president, taking track more seriously and having a better season in basketball.”
