More and more Monte Vista students are beginning to see their future paths of life after graduation. This year, specifically, has seen many students reaching prestigious goals after completing their high school careers.

Rohan Savoor, a senior at Monte Vista, will be attending Caltech.

Savoor stated that the college application process was very stressful for him.

“Hitting the ‘submit’ button for my application was always a moment filled with both excitement and stress,” he said. “However, I knew I did the best I could so all I could do was wait.”

Outside of school, Savoor has done speech and debate for four years, competed in pole vault, and done volunteer work.

“I’ve also been a Boy Scout since sixth grade and became an Eagle Scout in my freshman year at Monte Vista,” Savoor said. “I’ve worked at Kumon and as a private tutor.”

He is heavily involved in many clubs around campus as well, including the MV Chemistry Club and Doctors Without Borders.

Barry Taylor, a chemistry teacher at Monte Vista, is the advisor of the MV Chemistry Club.

“Rohan is a phenomenal student of science in particular,” Taylor said. “He’s a really, really sharp guy and it’s no surprise to me that they accepted him. Caltech should want him.”

After hearing that he had been accepted, Savoor could not contain his excitement.

“When I first found out, I was incredibly happy and relieved that a lot of the stress of waiting had come to an end,” he said. “This was one of my top choices and hearing back good news definitely made my day better.”

A fellow student who also excelled in terms of academic acceptance is senior Vishal Jain who was accepted to attend Harvard University.

Jain has done an immense amount of community service with his organization, “Music for Kids,” which gives underprivileged children in Oakland access to music lessons.

“After playing sitar for nine years, I released my album ‘The Enchanted Strings’ on iTunes and other music stores,” Jain said. “The sales of the jazz-classical fusion album allowed me to found my organization.”

Along with “Music for Kids,” Vishal also ran weekly volunteer operations at Kaiser Hospital for five years, he has competed in math/science competitions, and has been an officer in multiple clubs.

Vishal also claims that the application process was nerve-racking; however, after finding out he had been accepted, all the stress was taken off his shoulders.

“It felt surreal,” he said. “All the hard work I put in throughout my middle school and high school years seemed so fruitful.  My family was ecstatic about the decision.  I’m pretty sure others were more excited about my acceptance than I was.”

Finally, fellow senior accepted to Harvard, Brian Yu, is incredibly hopeful for the future. However, much like the other two students highlighted here, he too went through quite a stressful acceptance process.

“The college application process is definitely stressful, and honestly one of the more difficult things I’ve attempted,” Yu said. “There are so many schools out there, each with qualities that make them distinct, so selecting which schools to apply to was itself a challenge.”

After being accepted, Yu, his family, and his friends were nothing less than ecstatic.

“The whole application process takes months of effort and consistent work,” he said. “To finally see the positive results of that was a very pleasant surprise.”

Cameron Poon, age 20, is Brian’s long-time friend and a Monte Vista alumni. She is very excited for her friend’s future.

“It’s an amazing accomplishment to make it into such a great school,” she said. “I’m extremely happy for him, but I’m going to miss him when he’s gone.”

Brian Yu goes on to say how excited his family was when they found out.

“Then, because I’ll be on the East Coast, they went out to purchase me a thick winter coat right afterwards,” he said.

For all of the Stangs, highlighted here and those who are not, who are going on to big and bright things after graduation, we at the Stampede wish you all the luck in the future.