Senior 'Honored' to be Chosen as Graduation Speaker

He has been active in sports and other clubs, and is one of the top five students in the Class of 2013—and Bridgewater-Raritan High School senior Mayank Kapoor is now preparing to deliver the student speech at Thursday’s graduation.

Each year, members of the senior class vote on who they want to speak at graduation, choosing from the students with the top five GPAs in the class.

“It was a real honor because there is a ballot of candidates,” he said. “Just to be chosen for that is an honor, and it is nice to know I got the support from my classmates.”

“I have a little bit of nerves because there will be a lot of people, but I think I will be able to handle it,” he added.

Kapoor said he has been working with school administrators on his speech, hearing about what past students have said as he prepares.

“I want to unify the entire class as we move forward,” he said. “I want to make sure they don’t forget everything and everyone around us who has done things for us. It will be a thankful kind of speech.”

Throughout his high school career, Kapoor has been involved in a variety of activities, first with soccer and track.

“I made a lot of good friends and had good times in general at the school,” he said.

Kapoor was also a member of Future Business Leaders of America, the Financial Leadership Development Club and Habitat for Humanity.

Plus, in his sophomore year, Kapoor started his own club in an attempt to help those outside the BRHS walls.

Kapoor began a school chapter of Asha for Education, a national organization that raises money for children in India to go to school.

“I believe a lot in education and what it can do for people,” he said. “Being Indian myself, I thought it would be a good way to connect everything and help past the scope of the school.”

As he prepares to leave BRHS, Kapoor is looking forward to attending school at New York University, where he will study finance with a goal of one day working in the business world.

“NYU was my top school because of the atmosphere of being in the city with the financial district,” he said. “It is in the center of everything.”

As graduation nears, Kapoor said he would advise students coming in to just always make sure they are on top of their work.

“High school can be overwhelming with all the classes and activities,” he said. “Focus on your school work first, and everything else will fall into place.”

“Stay involved, focus on school and enjoy yourself while you’re in high school,” he added.

Kapoor said he will take that ability to focus when he heads to NYU. He said he will take the lessons he has learned with him in the years to come.

“In college there is a lot going on, everything from time management to managing resources,” he said. “Bridgewater is a good place because it is a big school, and you can see how you can handle all the different sports, school and preparing for college.”

“BRHS is good preparation,” he added.