Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Kunal: STEM itself is just something passionate about because I love problem solving. I think problem solving applies everywhere, but I feel like the best medium for problem solving is stem. I guess one of the biggest lessons is time management. There are definitely better ways of, you know, doing it in time instead of staying up to like 2am in the morning understanding, you know, how you can be a lot more productive with your time. It's like gaining that freedom, saying, hey, you know, I have this time, I know I can use it well. So what can I do with this other time right here? And it kind of builds on top of it.
[00:00:24] Krishna: What advice would you give to our aspiring DJ students and who are now at dj kind of like your brother Ishan?
[00:00:30] Kunal: The advice I'd give all these students and especially Ishan, listen to your parents.
[00:00:34]Krishna: Hi, I'm Krishna Cart and welcome to Learning by Design Podcast. I'm joined by my guest, co-host, Kyla Pizzana.
Yeah. And today we have a very special guest, Kunal Saxena, who has been an integral part of Young Scholar Circle or the Masterpiece Academy. And, and now he's here to share his inspiring story with us. So for your as a background, Kunal is our student, was our student way back when he was in elementary school and he did test preparation with us when he applied for Johns Hopkins School and College Aptitude Test, Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test all the way to tj. Okay, now you're going to hear straight from him because I know we have a lot of students who want to, you know, who wanted to ask some TJ alumnus and some TJ alumni. And he is one of those alumnus, he and his student. Okay, so let's dive in. Okay, so let's dive in. And this is Kunal Saxena.
[00:01:48] Kunal: Hi. Pleasure to be here. My name is Kunal. As Ms. Cart put. It's great to be here with Ms. Cart and Kyla as well.
I am, as Ms. Cart mentioned, I'm a TJ. I was a TJ alumni and I was there from 2018 to 2022. But before that I was a young scholar student and I was here since I took my scat, which is almost third grade, fourth grade. And I've been, I've been involved, you know, until high school and it's been, you know, a magical experience then. And I'm glad to be back, you know, teaching.
[00:02:26] Krishna: Well, thank you so much for being here, Kunal. I really appreciate your effort. Just, you know, he took home, he flew from college just to be with us and to have this video podcast and in preparation for the ribbon cutting. So, Kunal, your story is not only inspiring, but also a testament to the power of mentorship, resilience, and hard work. We're excited to dive into your experiences and reflection and share with us, share them to our listeners. So let's do segment one, the early years Building the foundation. Let's start at the beginning. Can you take us back to your first day at Young Scholar Circle?
[00:03:05] Kunal: Yeah. So first in Young Scholars Circle was the first day that I remember. I've been here for so long. But it was with Dr. Scribner, and this was the office that was right across Tyson's Corner. Tyson's. The Tysons Tube Mall. And it was a writing intensive class. Now, you know, at first I felt like, oh, it's a math student, I'm a science student. I get all this stuff. Why do I need a writing course? And my mom and dad eventually pushed me, like, let's do this, let's see what's up. And I think through that and through Dr. Scribner, I kind of understood that. Now it's a skill that I. Now I understand I need, like, to this day, every single day. But I think you understand how important writing is and how important is communicating writing is as well. Because, you know, you think, oh, so, you know, I understand math, I understand science, and I can, you know, do all this. I can perform an experiment, I understand what's going on, or I can do some calculation, I do some proof. It doesn't help if you can't explain to next person what you can do.
[00:04:06]Krishna: Right?
[00:04:06] Kunal: It's like teaching, right? They say, you know, if you can't explain it to somebody else, you probably don't understand how it works yourself. And it's almost the same thing. And that's a big part of it as well. And so that's kind of where I kind of realized, oh, you know, there is another element to, like, understanding, like stem. And it's this writing part right here. And this kind of translates through where, you know, the skills that you learn from this class about how to write intensively, how to write, precisely how to write, you know, in a way that the reader will understand. That actually applies, you know, to tj, like, first year tj, because the first thing that we did in our I best, which is now called I Best, it's. It was to write a paper, right? It was to write a research paper. And in that one, you know, you had, even though you carried out your experiment, you had all your methodology laid out probably 70% of the time, is saying, all right, did you write it this way? Did you use the correct unit? Did you.
Did you have the right number of paragraphs? Does your abstract expressly. Expressly say, you know, this is what our project is and this is how it works? Does our introduction give a good concise, I guess, story of, you know, what is the motivation behind your research project? So that's where it kind of comes in to, you know, oh, this is where I learned from your scholar Circle and just what may not. And it's just something that carries on throughout. And last year too, you know, it was a mentorship I did last year, senior year, so same thing too. It was a big. It was a much bigger paper and it was a lot more work on me. Cause it was just me instead of four of us.
[00:05:39] Krishna: Also, even in college, huh?
[00:05:41] Kunal: So this was last year. This was last year tj, but in college too.
[00:05:46] Krishna: Oh, the last year in tj, like the.
[00:05:47] Kunal: The senior research and college, you're all you're doing is writing. And so. And I remember there was a big paper, a big math paper about P ADIC numbers that I wrote for a class that I had. And but for that one also was just understanding. Oh, this is how latex works. So it. Skills beyond. Just like. So it was just skills beyond, you know, understanding. Oh, this is how to write. But there are also ways you can write to communicate it better. So, you know, times, you obviously heard about, you know, times in Roman double space font font size 12. But also latex. Can you represent equations in the right way?
[00:06:25] Can you write problem solving essay?
[00:06:27] Kunal: Exactly right. So can you express equations in the right way? Can you create diagrams and express them in the right way? Where it's not. Where it doesn't. It's not like a PowerPoint presentation you put on. It's actually something that you created by yourself. And those skills are something that I learned through that class too, and just kind of keeps growing on. So that's kind of where the story with Young Scholar Circle started. Where, you know, it's a small class that I took in fifth grade, which I didn't think as much of. And now I think about it, it's like, wow, you know, it's probably applied to every other point in my life.
[00:06:58] Krishna: Oh, thank you so much. I'm so glad that you can see now the value of it and how you. You're applying it. Thank you so much. So how. What drew you to stem? Let's go back. Because, you know, I remembered when you were at. When we were in 8200 Greensboro Drive. I remember telling your dad that, you know, one of our math teacher saw your giftedness in math. And then I remember telling your, your dad, Mr. Saxina, your son is gifted and I would love to take him to, you know, do a test prep on scat for Johns Hopkins center for Talented Youth. So go back to that years. What drew you to stem and what did those early experience shape your academic growth?
[00:07:44] Kunal: So STEM itself is just something passionate about because I love problem solving and I think the best, I think problem solving applies everywhere. But I feel like the best medium for problem solving is stem, mostly just because, you know, it's the way it's now. It's like the most biggest thing in the world and in the sense that, you know, like of all the field, the big fields right now with AI, machine learning, and I guess even you like biotechnology and those are the three biggest fields right now. And they all require problem solving in varying degrees. And that's always something that always enticed me from a young age. And for me, before I even got to like all those big fields, it was coding. I just loved. Even before that, actually I'd say it was probably math. So I just, I loved math. Like I loved everything because I, it just made sense. I like, it's easy because like the.
[00:08:32] Kyla: Solutions there, you can get to the solution.
[00:08:35] Krishna: And then your mom talked about, you know, your grandfather is a math professor. So I can see, I can see the DNA. Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:42] Kunal: So it's like, yeah, you know, two plus two is five and four, well, precise. Yeah, two plus two is four. And I don't have to write a paragraph explaining why it's four. I mean, and then, you know, you realize later on you're absolutely wrong. You have to write something about that. But it just blew up from there and I just. And I think the more math I did, the more I realized, you know, how complex can be. So a big thing was come on. So I. So for everyone there, if you know what come on is, I know some of there was a tingle went up your spine for any student there. So. But I did come on for a long time now. That was almost second grade when I started. And I just grew my love for math there because it was just constant repetition. But it was like, oh, I understand it because for that one, you know, it's just constant practice and practice, practice where you build your confidence by yourself to the point where, you know, you, you feel, you don't realize it, but it's like, I'm doing calculus in fourth grade.
[00:09:45]Krishna: Right, Right.
[00:09:47] Kunal: And, you know, it's things like that where it kind of build on it and you kind of realize, you know, how far you've gone, but just because you. Constant repetition and, you know, just forcing yourself to do it. And I think that's. There's something beautiful about that.
[00:10:00] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:10:01] Kunal: And I think also the other thing that's. The other thing about math is that, you know, it's something that where. If you put. If you're very motivated and you want to do more with it, you can absolutely go the distance with it. And there's not really much of a wait time. I guess that's what I found. And so I got into math, and then naturally, because my parents were computer scientists, I was like, oh, this Cody thing sounds fun. Let me try it out. And, you know, I started with java. They. Because they. They were big.
[00:10:26] Krishna: They were 13 years old, I think you were. You got the license.
[00:10:30] Kunal: Yeah. So talk about it. So for. For that one. That was.
[00:10:35] Krishna: I remember your.
[00:10:36] Kunal: So, dad. So that was. That was a very interesting experience because I. It was seven, so I knew some java, and my mom urged me that, hey, you know, let's try a certification. Right. Let's see how good you are. And so I took a summer of seventh. Of seventh grade. Yeah, I took a summer of seventh grade, and I'm actually, the first time I did not do well whatsoever. I did not. I didn't get the first time. Yep. And. And, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, oh, you know what? Like, maybe. Maybe I. I'm good. Maybe I'm not certification good. Right. My mom kind of pushed me, like, no, you can do this. Come on. So that was good, Mom. Yeah. Oh, yeah. She's. She's. She'll push you when you don't need. When you don't realize you need it. That's what I've learned. But I've with her, and she kind of pushed me. And I was like, all right, I'm gonna try doing this again. And I tried saying, what if I can take it? January of eighth grade. So this was the January 2018. Yep. And I've gotten 86 on it. Right. So first time I got a 56, when I got 86. And the passing grades is 65.
[00:11:42] Krishna: Right, right.
So, like the youngest one.
[00:11:45] Kunal: But yeah. But I think the biggest thing about that, just that experience was that it kind of pushed me to say, hey, you know, if you put Your mind to it, and you just learn from your mistakes. You can do anything perfect, and that not every single milestone that you have has to be one step forward. Sometimes going backwards and kind of understanding what you did wrong can make a bigger step forward than what you usually thought, I think. And, you know, because of that, I kind. Because I failed the first time that passed the first time, I probably would not have, like, taken as much heart to concepts like poly, like polymorphism, and. Which is a special programming concept that always just kind of confused me. And going to that exam, I would. I understand the syntactically how it worked, but never to the point where it's like, oh, I can probably explain to you what it is. But because I failed the exam, I was like, all right, I have to understand everything about this because I don't want to do this again. And so it forced me to understand more and more and more about the language itself.
[00:12:40] Krishna: Right.
[00:12:40] Kunal: And I think that was the beauty of it, because the more I understood, the more I realized how it connected and understood it to a better meaning that probably would have passed the first time. If I pass the first time, I probably don't go through that process of understanding it, and I. And I probably end up become more confused when it comes to use later.
So things like that, those are, like, small things where coding kind of gave me kind of an avenue or an outlet where I can, you know, kind of talk about it.
[00:13:05] Krishna: Yep. Yeah. Okay, let's do segment two.
[00:13:09] Kunal: All right.
[00:13:10] Krishna: Let's talk about your TJ experience. Research, growth and resilience.
Moving on to tj, one of the most competitive and prestigious STEM schools in the country. What was your initial experience like when you started there?
[00:13:25] Kunal: Oh, not good.
No. So I took a summer course first year. It was to get my history credit out the way. So I was like, oh, you know, it's a history class. I like history. You know, we'll see what happens. And it was probably one of the most intensive courses I've ever taken.
[00:13:42] Krishna: Wow.
[00:13:43] Kunal: And it wasn't like it wasn't us. And I think it was more just because I didn't understand how.
How intense the school is and how intense the curriculum is. So when we talk. So Ms. Yee, who was a teacher then, she's awesome, by the way. But she.
The way she taught, she was a very passionate teacher. But it was a lot. And, you know, she puts a lot. She's very detail oriented and is. She explains historical concepts such a way where you're almost there, but it's a Lot of high level thinking that you just don't expect, like, for a first class. So I ended up doing, like, decent in that class, but. And I think everything went out fine. But that was my first taste. Like, wait, this is. This is gonna be a lot. And so freshman year rolled around and it wasn't as great. For being honest, I just. I just wasn't up to speed with, you know, how fast the classes went.
[00:14:35] Kyla: Yeah.
[00:14:36] Kunal: And, you know, and some classes made a lot of sense. Other class, biology, which I never thought I'd have to touch, that just were a lot. And you just don't understand how much it is. At the first, you know, for example, you know, I was like, oh, for bio, the first unit you talk about is biochemistry and which is a lot of digging into molecules itself, how they work. And, you know, that's something that I remember is like, oh, this is a lot.
[00:15:00] Krishna: Right.
[00:15:00] Kunal: But I think over time, even though I may not have been as well, that second half, or second semester rather of that freshman year is when you kind of start piecing it together. It's like, oh, you know, even though it's like, all right, even though I might not get an A in this class. Right. I'm gonna try to see if I can. What if I can do the best I can.
[00:15:20] Krishna: Agree that.
[00:15:21] Kunal: And so, you know, biology, I think I got to B plus. It was. It was like A. It was probably like a C at some point, but I got back to B plus. And even though, you know, wasn't an A, it was a silver minor. Like, you know, I can do this. Right? It just a little. We just had a little hiccup and now we're back.
[00:15:39] Kyla: You've had to, like, adjust to it because.
[00:15:40] Kunal: Exactly.
[00:15:41] Kyla: Something that you were used to.
[00:15:42] Kunal: And you kind of see the same thing in college too, right? Yeah, but I think it wasn't. So I remember, like, for my, My roommates as well, you know, they. They were obviously, you know, like. Because, you know, you're an entirely different place. You have. And it's kind of like a whole adjustment altogether. But I feel like, you know, that's the one thing about tj. You've already gone through that experience once. You already gone through that, you know, that bad semester. And so when you go to college, it's kind of. It's not. Not necessarily that it's going to be like, like, as it's not. It's still going to be rigorous, but not going to be as much to the point where it's like, oh, you know, Like, I. This is completely new to me. You kind of get what's going on.
[00:16:17] Kyla: But you basically use like, what you learn from tj.
[00:16:21] Kunal: Yes.
[00:16:21] Kunal: And then really use that to help you guide you through college. Like, because of that one bad semester, you're like, I know what to expect from. I know what I expected from high school. And then now that I'm in college, like, I OB obviously still have to adapt to my environment, all my different professors and all that stuff. But using your past experiences to really drive you to success in the future.
[00:16:41] Kunal: Yep, exactly. Like, no.
[00:16:43] Krishna: Yeah, I heard that from my. From my youngest son to, you know, Stanford is like a piece of cake because I've gone through tj. So that's a good advice for our listeners here. Now, TJ places a big emphasis on research. Every TJ student has to go through and then develop their own research in high school, which is somewhat like college or, you know, graduate thesis. Can you tell us about your research project?
[00:17:07] Kunal: Yeah. So research itself was.
That was the biggest part of thi. As you mentioned. And I think it just got more and more intense every year you went up. So as I mentioned, the first year, your freshman year, we did the I Best project. And that was a paper. You were in groups of four. You had to do a paper, I think it's called now called I Best because they include statistics in it. But it's a huge interdisciplinary project that they have where your biology, your English and your design and tech teachers all work together. And you're working as a group of four. The same project.
[00:17:43] Krishna: The first time that you collaborate.
[00:17:44] Kunal Exactly. And real world.
And you know, as you. And that was the first research project, ours on salamanders, I remember. And it was about how dissolves oxygen affects, you know, salamander larvae population.
[00:17:58] Krishna: Oh, wow. So that's what I'm teaching with my academies of loud.
[00:18:02] Kunal: Yeah, yeah. And you know, it's. It's an. It's a. It is really like one of those things you think about. Like, I really like did that because we, when we would actually like freezing winter, go to ponds where they were like, they were like stratified, you know, six by six cells. And we would actually go and with like heavy rain boots and actually count them.
[00:18:24] Krishna: Wow.
[00:18:24] Kunal: Which I think was an. Which is, you know, one of those things where you realize, oh, I actually did that. And you were actually on the field, which is now my. Now the boots and I help whatsoever. So I was pretty mad the rest of the day. And so just my, my legs up till here were Just absolutely soaked, which is no fun. But it's just one of those things where you realize, oh, you were actually out on the field like the first year itself. And that's kind of what the magic of tj, why it's so special. And you know, you kind of have those research projects through and through to the point where it's like, oh, you know, it becomes a little bit more and more intense and then. So senior year.
[00:19:00] Krishna: Yeah, senior year.
[00:19:01] Kunal: Senior year. That's the big Right. Yeah, you're on your own. It's your own research project now. For me, it was a little different because I got a mentorship.
[00:19:09] Krishna: Oh, you avail of the mentorship.
[00:19:12] Kunal: So talk about it. So the mentorship I was able to work with Dr. Patrick Gillevette at GMU and it was about how to use like data analysis tools to measure, you know, to measure microbiome analysis. So, so. And you know, that was an unreal experience as well. And so, and that I kind of just helped him on the project as well and helped him through the samples, kind of understand how to use technologies. And I learned through him. He's. He's absolutely one of the smartest people I've ever met, especially in his field. And you know, learning through him was an absolute joy. But I think the one thing I take away from that is how techno, how technologies are used in research, how it's constantly involving subjects. So for example, you know, I learned about this thing called the Minion, which is a special device where you essentially take a sample and it essentially reads the proteins for you, like just on the spot. Now it takes a little bit of time. I think it's like two, two and a half, three hour delay. But I remember I was so invested in that small device. I spent, I think I wrote like a entire section about that on my project.
Yeah. But. And you know, it also interfaces with the Orange tool. So which was one of those. Which is what's was used like to. For allowing you to use data analyses and how to. And it was actually used like, you know, measure the protein levels itself.
[00:20:33] Kyla: Yeah.
[00:20:34] Kunal: And so things like that was kind of, that I would say my first step, it's like the real world and how, you know, it all interfaces out because you understand, you know, from. I knew from biology, you know, like how kind of how the microbiomes work and kind of like the inner workings of it. But you don't you always like, say, all right, what does this look in the real world? Right. Because it's just, it's not, it's not like some, like, they actually figured it out and they actually, like, have done studies to do this and this just being in the part of one was an absolute experience.
[00:21:02] Kyla: It's like you learn about the thing, but when you actually, like, have the hands on it experience, you get to go out in the field. It's like you also just have a joy when learning when you do that instead of just like reading books and things.
[00:21:16] Kunal Yes. Even for the. The research project. It's not like even for the research project too. I mean, I have a lot of friends who did that as well. But, you know, for that one, you also. It's the same thing too, I guess. You know, it's not as involved because for that one you were on, you stayed on school. That one I had to actually drive to. I actually had to drive to, like, gmu, like, in Fairfax.
[00:21:37] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:21:37] Kunal: Which my dad hated because. Because I didn't have my driver's license then. And so he was. It was like, all right, I have to. I. So. And I'm a May birthday. So it was up until May where my dad to basically be with me while I'm driving, which is like the most stressful thing ever, because he.
Yeah. When learning. Learned when I drive, my dad, it's. It was. I mean, it's maybe a better driver whatsoever, but he tell me, like, the people nitpick me in the worst places possible every time I drive. And, you know, it's just obviously to make it better. And also just because he's on the side, that's just kind of how he is. But, you know, that. That's just something funny that I remember from that experience. But I think just like the experience of just going to an actual university and actually conducting research is an unparalleled experience.
[00:22:33] Krishna: There you go. That's good to hear for our aspiring TJ students. And then before we leave TJ and before we move on to the third segment, I wanted to ask you what were some of the standout moments that you cherish most from your tea, from your time at tj?
[00:22:51] Kunal: It's getting other people. And I think, you know, a lot. If you taught to any students, like, they're probably gonna say, oh, it's the science and the math. And I'll probably tell you, it's getting other people because those relationships.
[00:23:01] Krishna: Oh, yeah, Relationships.
[00:23:03] Kunal: And I think it's. It's. It's so, you know, my. I best. We're very close. When we had a lot of things together. We had a laser tag party that we all Organized the end. At the end of the. At the end of the year, and we just stuck close ever since. And, you know, we. Even before that, even after that, ninth grade, tenth grade, our hum. We have hum groups now. Tenth grade was a little different. Eleventh grade was a little different because junior year, because it was Covid year, so.
So, you know, even. So we knew each other, like, beforehand, but, you know, just. We weren't actually in the classroom, which is kind of interesting.
[00:23:34] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:23:34] Kunal: But, you know, but that. That sophomore year, you know, we. You know, just a big one, big family almost. I guess I'd say so. And I think it's weird because now my brother. My younger brother, Sean.
[00:23:47] Krishna: Yeah, I know.
[00:23:48] Kunal: I. I came back from college and I had to drive him because they did the same thing, too, where we had a laser tie party. They had. They went to Tysons and they have pajama.
[00:24:01] Krishna: They. Oh, gosh. A lot.
[00:24:02] Kunal: Yeah. So they went to Tysons and they. And I had to drive, like, three of them, like, as a car. Yeah. And so I remember my dad. I mean, my dad do it now. My brother asked me to. I was like, all right. I think it's.
[00:24:15] Krishna: That is so nice. That's a great experience.
[00:24:18] Kunal Yeah.
[00:24:18] Krishna: So nice. Yeah.
[00:24:20] Kyla: To, like, keep in contact with, like, your teachers.
[00:24:22] Kunal: Oh, my teachers. I think not as much. Not as much as I should have, which you definitely should, because they're. They're like. They're incredible people over there.
[00:24:31] Krishna: Mr. Billington.
[00:24:32] Kunal: Mr. Billington?
[00:24:33] Krishna: Yeah, he was your teacher. He was with us at Young Scholars.
[00:24:36] Kunal: Yep. He taught me. Um, yeah, so for TJ Prep, actually, he was the major teacher. He was awesome. He was. Because he was very calm.
[00:24:46] Kunal: Yeah, he was a very calm teacher, and the way he taught was very interesting, which is almost slow. And, you know, I'm, like, a very frenetic guy when it comes. When it comes to, like, math or something. And so I'm like. And I just was like, all right, I want to keep solving. I want to keep solving. I keep want to keep solving. So him being a change of pace was kind of like, a weird experience because I. I'm not.
[00:25:08] Krishna: I need to get him into a podcast with us.
[00:25:11] Kunal: Yeah.
No. And so. And, you know, I think that kind of. That thing of slowing it down.
[00:25:17] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:25:17] Kunal: And kind of thinking about it. That's kind of like, what. I took a lot from his class.
[00:25:21] Krishna: Oh, he thinks highly of you, Mr. Billington. He thinks I love you. Yeah, he was great.
[00:25:26] Kunal: Yeah.
[00:25:26] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:25:26] Kunal: Dr. Scribner, too. Yeah. But, you know, I think, you know, experiences like that are what I think those experiences just like connections with your teachers, connections with, you know, the students that you had, those are the things that matter. Those are the things that matter a lot. And I think when you look back at. When I look back at teacher, that's the thing that I remember exactly.
[00:25:48] Krishna Yeah. And then to think about it, relationships matter. That's the first thing. Yeah. You know, like a relationship with Christ first, and then your family relationship, your marriage, and then all the way to work relationship is the single thing most interesting, most important thing is in this world. Okay. Transitioning to college. Okay. Now that you're in college, how has your perspective on STEM and education evolved?
[00:26:13] Kunal: So there's a lot more freedom. And I think that's the biggest thing with any. With any, not even just out in stem, but outside stem, you find that there's a lot of freedom what you do. So in college. Yep. So, you know, there are a lot more access to resources that you see because it's a bigger campus. There are a lot. You can. You have the ability. Your class are more sparse doubts. So you have a lot more time to stay on campus and see what else they have. You can even go to if you want to. You can go to another class. If you don't, you're not. You don't even have to be attended. But sometimes I'll go to my class. Another class, say, this looks interesting, like.
[00:26:46] Kyla: To sit on it.
[00:26:47] Kunal: Yeah. It's like, if I want to do this next semester, let me go to this class, see what's going on.
[00:26:51] Krishna: Just check it out. Yeah, that's nice.
[00:26:53] Kunal: I almost went when they had a test. I did not know. I almost went when they had a test. And I thankfully emailed him beforehand. He's like, do not come. We're having a test. Come. You can come next week. So, you know, but, you know, that kind of freedom, that's kind of. What is the big difference between TJ and college? Because even though TJ does give you a lot of liberties because, you know, it's probably one of the better college prep schools that high schools can have. It's still high school in the end. Right. You still have your set periods. You have. You do have electives, but the step period eight to four. Right. With college, you realize, oh, you know, I don't have to take seven classes a day or four classes a day. Yeah, I can. It can be two classes a day spread out throughout the day. It could be one at 8am it could be one at 6pm right. And also it's not an hour and a half like it is for every class or 45 minutes on an anchor day like it is at TJ, it got to be 50 minutes at least for PIT, at least for me. It could either be 50 minutes Monday, Wednesday, Friday, it could be Tuesday, Thursday, or Monday, Wednesday, an hour 15, or it could be, you know, two hour 30 minutes, where it's just once a week. Right. So, you know, that kind of flexibility is just something that kind of throws you off. It's like, oh, my God, I have so much control over this.
[00:28:01] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:28:02] Kunal: And now, you know, but you know, as a STEM thing, that there's also two ways of this. So, you know, if you enjoy these liberties, you know, you obviously, you know, you can have a lot more fun. It's a lot more relaxation. But this also does give you the time to say, all right, I want to, I want. If you're more ambitious, you can say, oh, I have an ungodly amount of resources right here and I have access to it, and I have the time to access it, which tj, you may not have that time because, you know, if you live in Loudoun, the commute From Loudoun to TJ is an hour.
[00:28:34] Krishna: Right.
[00:28:34] Kunal: An hour and 15. And then barring if you don't have any after school activities afterwards, you. It's the straight. The bus ride straight back is another hour or an hour.
[00:28:43] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:28:43] Kunal: So something to think about. So you really don't have a lot of time in the day when you think about it. And now, you know, obviously, you know, you. There are ways you can still work around that. But when you, when you are, you know, and with tj, you do end up doing all those activities in clubs that you have to make it fulfill, to make it a fulfilling experience. But with college, you realize, oh, I have so much time, and it's a matter of how you use it. And I think that's the biggest takeaway from, you know, college site. There's a lot of time, but it all depends on how you can use it, which is kind of like that gift and curse that comes with that freedom.
[00:29:16] Krishna: Yeah, that's good. Anything that you wanted to. To ask, wanted to add, I was wondering, I know you've partially talked about it, but what lessons or skills from TJ or, you know, from your early years that you took to college? And I think you had already talked about, you know, lessons from the Masterpiece Academy. So. Yeah, circle.
[00:29:36] Kunal: Yeah. So I guess one of the biggest lessons is time management. And, you know, I. Coming into tj, that was probably one of my biggest weaknesses where I just, you know, it wasn't that, you know, I. I couldn't, like, manage my time well, but it's like, maybe there are better ways of doing it that I just didn't think about. And, you know, like, there are probably. There are definitely better ways of, you know, doing an assignment instead of staying up to like 2am in the morning.
[00:30:00] Kyla: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:30:02] Kunal: That's with any college or any high school. Not even just tj. It's any high school experience.
[00:30:06] Krishna: Remember that.
[00:30:06] Kunal: But, you know, that's kind of that understanding, you know, how you can be a lot more productive with your time and kind of gaining that freedom. It's. It's like gaining that freedom, say, saying, hey, you know, I have this time. I know I can use it well, so what can I do with this other time right here? And it kind of builds on top of it. So by the time you go to college, you are looking for opportunities to say, hey, I can do this here, I can do this here. I can do this here. And you're already used to it because of tj.
[00:30:33] Krishna: It's really good.
[00:30:33] Kunal: So time management, I think, is something that I carry a lot. Just outside the skills itself that you learn from tj, you know, like through the math. Like, obviously, you know, the actual learning done carries throughout. It's going to carry out through the rest of your life. That's how good of a school that it really was. But I think that time management understand also how to. And also, I guess, relationships as well as you touched on.
[00:30:57] Krishna: Yeah, like how to collaborate.
[00:30:59] Kunal: Yeah, exactly.
[00:31:00] Krishna: Talk about how.
[00:31:00] Kunal: Collaboration, how to collaborate. I think, you know, being on team projects for a whole year is something.
[00:31:05] Krishna: That, you know, is huge in collaboration.
[00:31:07] Kunal: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And that's something that carries out through college. Absolutely. Like, not even just like, academically, but when you got to find a roommate. Right. You have to meet with people. Yeah. And, you know, you don't think about it, but it's like, I'm using these. I'm using, like, what I learned from TJ almost everywhere.
[00:31:21] Krishna: Yeah, exactly. So that collaboration that we teach in elementary school to middle school to high school really matters. Right, I agree. Yeah. So let's move on to this fourth segment from learner to mentor. So as you all know, Kunal is now a mentor, a teacher, STEM facilitator, and math facilitator here. Teacher here at the Masterpiece Academy. Giving back. So you've come full circle. Returning to The Masterpiece Academy as a STEM or math and math facilitator. What inspired you to take on this role and how does it feel now to be a mentor to students who are walking the same path you once walked?
[00:32:04] Kunal Yeah, so as I mentioned, I love, I love problem solving. I mean, that's probably why I'm in the computer science field, because I just love, I love finding problems, solving it. And that's any STEM major too. Now, the biggest joy you have in anything that you do is learning. And I think that's why I remember fondly, you know, on those, on those years of, you know, like, of, you know, like of that year when I was studying for tj. Not just because, you know, of all the relations, what I had, but I was learning. And, you know, the more you learn, the more you understand, the more you realize, the more you realize what you can do with it. Knowledge is power. That's, that's my dad's, like, constant things around. But, you know, and, you know, back. And always having my parents has been great because, you know, you always want to do. You always want to do that, but you always need that push. You always need someone kind of like, say, oh, what if you try this? And you just take it on entirely? And so I think when I thought about it going back to you, it's like, I want to give other students that push, right? Because there are a lot of. There, There are so many talented students that I've. I've taught. Even, like, so even before I did the Roblox, I did the Roblox Iat with us. Iat I've done it twice. And I think every student I've taught has been incredibly talented and incredibly hardworking, and it's been a joy to teach them. But every single time, it's. I think it's them, it's the way that they understand. It's the way I. The more I teach, the more I understand there's so much more than they give themselves credit for. And I think that's kind of what carries me through. It's like I want to. If I give one person this motivation or this, this chance to, you know, go on with what he had, he or she has, then, you know, I. I feel like that's like the most rewarding experience I can get.
[00:33:48] Krishna: Very good. That's very insightful. Did you see how he, when he talks, he. He goes back to, you know, to his dad, to his mom, and then, you know, to his mentor way back in gmu, to his mentors in young scholars. At the Masterpiece Academy and yeah. At tj. So that's how influential educators are and teachers are in the lives of students. And now he's giving back. He is now part of the STEM leader workforce. So. Yeah. So how has your experience as a student shaped the way you mentor each others?
[00:34:24] Kunal: So, you know, as a student, you kind of, you know, you realize that some teachers, some of them work, some of them don't, Right? No. And I think, you know, like those, those are honest conversations you have that, you know, like you go to a class, maybe this teacher isn't for me even college too. It's like, oh, you know, maybe this teacher, he might be a good teacher, but maybe his weight style teaching isn't for me.
[00:34:47] Kyla: Right.
[00:34:47] Kunal: And you know, as a teacher, I think, you know, as I taught those classes, one thing I realized that, you know, I don't, I. Not everyone's going to like the way I teach. Right. And that's, I think that's just something that, especially when you have like a large audience of students, you can't, like, we have lecture halls, like for economics classes, I Pitt that are like 90 students. Not every single student's going to be happy the way you teach.
[00:35:09] Krishna: Right.
[00:35:10] Kunal: But I think the way that, but you want to try to do your best and you want to try to be as helpful as you can to any student that you have. And I think understanding too, that you like, oh, you know, you can't help everybody, is something that's still that kind of like pushes me to say, I want to do the best I can. And that's kind of the lesson that you draw from being a student, that, you know, your experiences with teachers, then, you know, maybe you didn't understand something as well, or maybe, you know, this didn't work as well. Kind of picking up on that and those small things that you learn kind of helps you become a better teacher and saying, okay, let me try this out. Let's see if maybe this works. I know I struggle with it because, you know, like, I, I did an essay, I, I did the IA team and I, and you know, I sometimes, you know, the teacher, sometimes the students who I teach will give better ways solving problems than I do.
And so, you know, things like that are kind of where you look back, say, this is where I kind of struggled as a kid. But he gets it. Like, he's not going through the same thing I'm going through. And so when you understand that from a student's perspective that, oh, you know, there's another way of Solomon. That, that you don't connect with your student with. And there's a connection between student teacher that you don't realize as a student. That's kind of what gives me better perspective of why teaching mat. Why teaching matters and why I want to do this. Yeah.
[00:36:28] Krishna That's very insightful. Yeah. Very mature. Yeah. So what do you find most rewarding about this role and is there a particular success story or experience with a student that stands out to you?
[00:36:43] Kunal: The money. No, I'm kidding. So. No.
[00:36:46] Krishna: Because we pay a lot.
[00:36:48] Kunal: No. So I think the way I learned was through my parents. And I think, you know, that's, I think just. And it's more honored to them. Just the way they tie was a way that, you know, I didn't expect, you know, to work out. Like, not that I didn't expect it to work out, but the fact that, you know, the fact that carries on to this day just. And the way that they. Their habits, the way they coach me up.
[00:37:10] Krishna: Right.
[00:37:11] Kunal: And those things, those carry through to the rest of my day and I guess for the rest of my life. So that's just something you don't. That, you know, as like, you think about it like. Oh, yeah, of course. That's, that's, that's how they raise you. But you don't realize it when you're going. You. When you. When during that time period, especially like during high school. Right. So, you know, when I come, you know, when I come back to teaching in the sense that's kind of where my, you know, that's just kind of where my headspace is usually with that. And.
Yeah. So, you know, when you think about. So, yeah, yeah.
[00:37:50] Krishna: I think what they are talking about is that reminds me of Dr. Dennis and Barbara Rainey's book, the Art of Parenting. Everything boils down to the family.
[00:38:01] Kunal: Yeah.
[00:38:02] Krishna: You know, they call it the university of family, you know, so if your family ties is strong and that goes, you know, that impacts your learning and the way you do, you relate and you do things later in life.
[00:38:16] Kunal: Yeah.
[00:38:16] Krishna: So that's the value of having a tight marriage and then tight family ties.
[00:38:23] Kunal: I agree. Absolutely. I agree.
[00:38:24] Krishna: Yeah. So if you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what is it?
[00:38:31] Kunal: B. And why loosen up and not. I really do mean this because, you know, when you.
I. I've gone. So I've throughout ever since, you know, like I started with scat. You kind of. Your muscles are kind of tests, right. Oh, did I pass this achievement? Did I pass this? Did I Do well in this test? Did I get in this club? Did I, you know, did I do.
[00:38:55] Krishna: And like check the box, right.
[00:38:57] Kunal: And you know, and you know, it's fun, right? Because you know, it's like, oh, it's competition. And you know, as, as a student, like you want to do more, you want to compete and say, oh, I'm better than this.
[00:39:07] Kyla: Yeah.
[00:39:07] Kunal: You know, in a selfish way. Yeah. But I think what you kind of miss out or like those especially when you get to college is that you, you can breathe like you do have moments where you can kind of breathe in and kind of relax and enjoy yourself every season. And I think, you know, when you kind of get that opportunity to rejuvenate, it gives you more of an energy and where it's kind of, it's kind of this weird thing where if you kind of have this ability to relax, you do a lot better and you don't. And you know, you don't realize it that we're essentially, you know, like, oh, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this competition. Math counts. Math counts. Was 1, math counts MCA that ERA and AMC 10. AMC 12. That like math that math era. It was just constantly like, oh, sorry for this competition, study for this competition study for this competition. And you know, you have a great time. But I think you also kind of want, if you look back and you kind of take that small break and kind of look back at what you've done and that's kind of where you kind of get more confidence in yourself because you know you're going to have your days, you're going to have your bad days where you know, you're studying for that and you know, like, let's say you have AMC 8, it's 25 problems and someone that you just get 15. Right, right.
[00:40:17] Krishna: And all of them are good.
[00:40:19] Kunal: Yeah. And it's just like it's a momentum thing really is that's the one thing you learned, especially in this condensed period of time where there's so much momentum carries through. So you know, if you have a bad test, you know, sometimes I'll just carry through. Right. Or if you have, if you didn't do as well on, you know, writing assignment as you thought you did, that kind of can carry through, but you have to learn how to kind of have that short term memory loosen up where it's like, oh, you know, it happened. And you know, because you kind of get that breathing space where you kind of think about that and kind of look back Say, oh, I've done all this to this point and one test is going to knock me over. No. So that's kind of the advice I'd give to myself. Don't. Because in tj, you're going to get a C. I don't care how good of a student you are, you will get a cj. And so.
But it's always that. Yeah, but it's. And it always. Is it always. You always go back and say, you know, it's just one grade. Right. Doesn't define who I am. Doesn't define, you know, what I can do. And you just got to keep going through. You just keep pushing it.
[00:41:19] Krishna: Oh, thank you. There you go. Now, one more piece of advice for our aspiring TJ students who are probably listening right now. I'm going to write about this in our blog. What advice would you give to our aspiring TJ students and who are now at tj, kind of like your brother Ishan.
[00:41:35] Kunal: The advice I'd give all these students and especially Ishaan, listen to your parents. And no, I.
[00:41:43] Krishna: And yes, because that's good.
[00:41:46] Kunal: And this shouldn't just be a TJ thing. It should be for every, Any, any student there. But they.
So during junior year, especially, because it was Covid for us, you know, you were at home, but it was probably the most stressful year of your life because it was AP physics, AP chem, AP not, not AP bio. Took that last year, but AP physics, a BECAM. AP push and, and out of APs. Yeah. And I think it was AP. It was one AP lit. So it was four APs in that year. And, you know, you don't realize it, but it takes a toll. Right? You know, especially when you're at home, it's so easy where you're not moving around, where you just kind of lose yourself. And so you kind of want to have your parents as a bedrock in the sense that you don't really understand that, you know, how, like, having them push you, having you kind of course correct is going to help you a lot because, like, you know, that, that junior year was. Even though, you know, it all ended out fine, you know, I did well.
[00:42:42] Krishna: The hardest one, I think.
[00:42:43] Kunal: Yeah. But, you know, it really was not fun whatsoever. And, you know, obviously it doesn't help that, you know, you're at home, you couldn't talk to people, and so.
And so you just, you just aren't. You're just in your room, like for almost. You're in your room for nine months doing school, and that's just not going to be a great time every single time. And you know, what my parents did was that. And sometimes, you know, like, when you feel like, oh, I can work late, you get a nibble, you, you want to, you want to eat something as you go through. And I, my mom, I remember, she told me, like, can I eat four meals a day? Like you like, don't, like, you're not. You're stressed eating pretty much. So that's, so she's, so she like curtailed it and you know, obviously it was like, all right, I'm studying. Why?
[00:43:26] Krishna: Instinct.
[00:43:27] Kunal: Right. And you know, it definitely after that it got a lot better and got a lot smoother. Especially like during the exam season, which I thought. Which was surprisingly not as stressful I thought it would be. So, you know, things like that are. Where you have to listen to your parents because they, they know what's best, just not, not even though they might not study with you, they understand who you are and understand how you work and they understand, you know, there's, if there's something wrong, they're going to be there for you.
[00:43:51] Krishna: Yeah, perfect.
[00:43:52] Kunal: So, and I guess like for any other technical advice, I'd say is make relationships. That's gonna, that's something that carries on through college.
[00:43:59] Krishna: Right.
[00:44:00] Kunal: You want to, you want to get on the ground running where you kind of meet people and you're active and you know, you and you understand, you know who, who you are now does that to be like, you have to be the most popular kid in school. But if you have. If you know how to meet people and how to entertain them in the sense that, oh, work with them. You can work with them. Exactly. That's the biggest skill I can give for you, especially such a collaborative school like tj.
[00:44:23] Krishna: Mm.
[00:44:25] Kunal: Like I, I think one example I think about is with Ishan because when he does drama. I wasn't here for this and, but my mom told me so they have one ax for drama and where it's. It's about like 15, 20 plays. All two minute plays. And but what I, I, what really captured me was that they're all student written and directed.
[00:44:46] Krishna: Wow.
[00:44:47] Kunal: Which I. Which I heard is like, that's insane. I did not that. And yeah, so. And I wish I didn't. I wish I missed that. But it's always like those interactions where, you know.
[00:44:59]Krishna: Yeah.
[00:45:00] Kunal: If you all work together, you will come up with something amazing.
[00:45:03] Kyla: Yeah.
[00:45:03] Kunal: Especially with a school with gifted students like those. Including yours. Yep.
[00:45:07] Krishna: Yeah.
[00:45:07]Kunal: But yeah. So I think those, if there's Some advice. I. That's the advice I would absolutely give.
[00:45:14] Krishna: Perfect. Now, one, one last thing about. You are now in sophomore college. Your college. Third year.
[00:45:23] Kunal: Third year. Junior.
[00:45:24] Krishna: Third year. Junior. Yeah. So talk about your internship and your future stem.
STEM career.
[00:45:31] Kunal: So.
[00:45:32] Krishna: And then maybe what advice would you give to aspiring STEM leader like you, because you're now. A few more years, two more years and you'll become. You're now a STEM leader.
[00:45:43] Kunal: Yeah, that's. That just feels weird to hear. But so being So, I guess like the one thing I'd say would be.
Let's see, what's a good way to put this?
That's a good question. Let's see. I guess the one way I would put it would be.
What can you say the question again? I just lost my train of thought.
[00:46:11] Krishna Oh yeah. Basically talk about like your, your future, like your internship.
[00:46:15] Kunal: Right.
[00:46:15] Krishna: Like, sorry, your work, Your STEM work.
[00:46:18] Kunal: Yeah. So right now I'm doing a part time job with a health care company and we're doing a telehealth thing where, where, you know, we're kind of trying to connect through a big cloud system remote veterans who aren't as accessible to health to, you know, hospitals or other health care options. So that's kind of what I'm doing right now. But in the. But. And you know, it's been a great experience so far. I'm still working with them part time and. But I think the biggest thing I can ask, especially for like a computer science student myself, is internships are not an easy thing to get. Like, you think, oh, you know, you go, you go to college, you're gonna get an internship and get a job. But you will, but you have to put in a lot of work. I think that's the first thing as a computer science club at Pitt when I went, when I went freshman year. And the first thing they said is that you're not gonna get your dream job year one, or maybe not even year three, because it's such a saturated market, because everyone wants this internship and everyone wants to go to Amazon, Microsoft, Google. But I think, you know, over time you learn, oh, this is like, this is like you have to kind of put in the work and you have to kind of start small. And so actually this is a very interesting story. So I got that internship job I was talking about because I taught an IAT class and one of the students, fathers, Mr. Sabatin, he kind of said, you know, I'm working on this project and, you know, if you want to join, I can definitely I can definitely try. So you have no idea where opportunities may come, right? So and it's always just leveraging when they, when they arrive. That's always, that's the one thing I can give like as advice as well, network and. But in the end, the future of all this is you want to keep learning, right. Even beyond, you know, once I'm done with this path with my bachelor's, it's all right. I want, let's see if there's anything more I can learn, right? Maybe through a master's, maybe during another course, maybe even doing a project, right, A big project because that's doing hands on thing is always the best way to learn.
So you know, there are a lot of avenues for how this will go. But I know that in the end the best thing I want to do is keep learning, right. Whatever field it may be. So you know, computer science maybe, you know, maybe doing a big project with AI down the road, maybe even just doing, going straight to my master's, right. And I think that's the flexibility that comes with you grow up. So you have a lot of options and, but every ever. But always pick the option where you feel like you learn the most or you have the most to gain. So that's where I would probably say, you know, like as, as, you know, some as a sort of inspiration that when you look at the future and you say, oh, I want to be a doctor, I want to be this. And you have, feel like you have it all planned out. Just hold off on that man. Because the idea of you going to college is for you to learn, understand, you know, what new technology is there, what are the new devices there, how you can learn, how you can use resources. Well, and that's just, you know, something that four years changes your perspective. At least four years will change your perspective. So that's probably my advice I'd give for that.
[00:49:19] Krishna: Thank you so much. Now, are there any piece of advice that you could, you know, that we haven't covered in our conversation that you could give to young learners from fifth graders, you know, to all the way to TJ and then the people who are applying for, you know, any young learners?
[00:49:35] Kunal: Yeah. So learning is not something that comes right easy off the bat. I mean it's a process. It really is where it's to the point that, you know, like you kind of expect that, oh, you know, I learned this, I kind of gained step. But there's so much learned that you don't realize. There's a curve that I keep seeing where when you're studying, when you're studying for something, you start right here at the, you know, kind of like where it's like, oh, I kind of know what's going on. The more you learn, the more kind of sounds like, oh my God, there's so much afterwards. But then it goes, then screws back up because once it gets that low point, it's just endless possibilities because that's that climactive point where you realize, oh, I know something about this, but there's so much. But I understand the bedrock of it. And you just keep expanding. And so learning is a process. No matter what subject stem or outside stem that you may, that you may encounter, that's what will always, that's that curve is always going to be there for any subject you have. So it's just understanding that, you know, it's a process. But you know, if you're dedicated, you keep at it and you only push through that climactic point that I'm talking about. You're, you're going to go places. You don't be it through tj, maybe not even through tj, maybe do another avenue entirely. If you're dedicated to learning, you will go places. And I think that's the best advice can probably give to anybody.
[00:51:00] Krishna: Thank you so much. Thank you for that insight. And I love the piece of, of advice that you give to our learners. You know, value the family. You know, the, that family value is still important. That is still very vital and then relationships. And that ties up with education, right? In coaching. Yeah, it ties up with, it's basically the core of education. You've got to get, have good relationship. So to our listeners, thank you for tuning in. And if you like this episode, you know, visit our website, subscribe and Visit our website www.masterpiecek12.org and be sure to subscribe. Stay tuned until our next episode. Bye for now.
