Senior Parth Jaiswal does it all, from being the debate president to an All-Virginia Guitar Ensemble member for his fourth year. His days consist of guitar, debate, and managing his schoolwork. All these activities still reward him, whether it’s through friendships, leading, or helping others. 

Q: What are the clubs and extracurricular activities that you participate in, and what are your positions in them? 

A: I’m part of the debate team, and I’m [the] president. I’m part of the school’s guitar ensemble, and I’m first chair. 

Q: What influenced you to participate in them? 

A: So for debate, it was just kind of getting to know more about current events because a lot of the topics that we have are geopolitical or economic related, and I was really interested in that. That’s why I signed up for debate at the start of my freshman year. Then for guitar, I was doing it in middle school, so it’s just something that I wanted to keep on doing in high school. 

Q: What does your day-to-day schedule look like when you’re managing all of these extracurricular activities?

A: For debate, we have [team] practice on Tuesday and Thursday, and then usually I’ll have to put more time in the week whenever we have a competition on Saturday. For practice, for debate usually, I’ll make sure I meet up with my partner every once in a while and make sure we run through drills and research the topic. Then for guitar, I try to practice at least an hour every day, if not more. 

Q: Would you say it’s difficult to manage your time well?

A: Yeah, sometimes it can be, especially my junior year because I had a lot harder classes that I had to take care of as well. 

Q: Is there any specific way you manage [your time], or is [what you need to do] just all [in your brain]?

A: I guess one thing I do is blocking out my time, making sure I don’t go over[time]. If I tell myself I want to do [guitar practice] from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., I’ll make sure to just stop at 6 and move on to the next thing I have to do, and not go overtime.

Q: How long have you been doing debate?

A: Since my freshman year. 

Q: When did you become the debate captain? 

A: I became treasurer my junior year, and then president my senior year. 

Q: How long have you also been participating in guitar? Was it your first year [doing guitar] in middle school? 

A: I started in seventh grade, and then I took it every year after that. 

Q: What was your reaction to becoming the All-Virginia Guitar Ensemble for four years? 

A: When I got it this year, I was super happy with it. I told my guitar teacher in school and everything, and she was also really proud. It was just something that I’m really proud of. And I was able to do it all four years because it’s also a really fun experience. 

Q: Would you say [becoming a four-year All-Virginia Guitar Ensemble] motivated you to keep wanting to get better? 

A: I would say so, and I think guitar is something I’ll continue to play throughout my life as well. 

Q: What is your favorite part of all these clubs that you participate in? 

A: I think it’s just doing it with a lot of people, because for debate I do public forum. I do it with a partner [who is also one of my best friends], so it’s always fun to [compete and practice] with him. For guitar, just playing in an ensemble is always really nice because I’m playing with people who I know. 

Q: How have these activities impacted you during your high school career?

A: I think I was able to meet a lot of new people through [guitar and debate], because, let’s say for debate, for example, I didn’t know many people at the start of my freshman year, and I met a lot of my current friends through debate, and the same thing with guitar as well. 

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share about debate or guitar? 

A: I would recommend for anyone listening or reading this [that] they should definitely join debate or guitar because they’re both really fun. 

Q: Also, what would you say is your favorite brain rot? 

A: My favorite brain rot? I know six-seven is pretty popular, but mine is probably tung tung tung sahur.

Q: Would you rather have 500 eyes or 500 ears?

A: I think 500 ears, because then I could hear from down the hallway.