by: Arnav Singhal

Sports Editor 

Whether in the robotics workshop or the Manutech lab, Aarav Gupta is a freshman tackling high school head-on. This year, Gupta’s schedule is ambitious; he is taking Manufacturing Technology 1, Spanish 2, Precalculus Honors, English, Robotics, Biology Honors, and Health and Fitness. With Gupta’s challenging classes, he always manages to have fun. He could be visiting Nina’s, a local Mexican restaurant, with his friends or competing at robotics tournaments with the school’s First Robotics Competition team.

 Transitioning from middle school to high school is not an easy phase for everyone to adapt to, but Gupta is breaking that barrier entirely. Gupta says his biggest challenge in this transition is time management. He recalled, “In middle school, there’s not really much work to deal with. But in high school, it’s not like that. I had to learn how to balance a much higher workload.” Right now, he struggles most with procrastination, which he is overcoming through his classes this year. Not only has he skipped Algebra 2 over the summer and is taking Precalculus Honors, but he is also taking Robotics, a time commitment that exceeds all others, as his teammates would recall. Through his ability to adapt to his environment or his work ethic, Gupta consistently stands out as someone willing to grow and turn his challenges into opportunities.

 In Robotics, Gupta excels in the control team, where he is learning the ropes. Gupta said his goal in robotics is to learn as much as possible so he can apply his knowledge outside of the workshop. His favorite experience has been going to the off-season competitions to compete and bond with other team members. He said his most treasured moment was in an off-season competition: “when we got to go to the finals, when we got chosen. That was a look in the top alliance. Though we were last picked, it was still a crazy moment, and we got so far.”

He stated that his biggest inspiration for learning to work with tools and electricity has been a YouTuber named Ben Eater, who takes courses on digital electronics. Through his interest in STEM, Gupta hopes to pursue a career in aerospace engineering at Lockheed Martin or NASA.

Gupta’s personality and interest in engineering make him a truly remarkable student and engineer. He says his biggest advice to students who want to get started in engineering and robotics would be to take their time and do their research. Gupta shared, “The worst way to learn is to just do it all on your own. You want to utilize tools that you have so that you can do it more efficiently.” With his drive, curiosity, and willingness to learn, Gupta is not just adapting to high school; he’s thriving in it.