4- Sanjana Kumar

Sanjana Kumar is a first-year at Princeton, a big learner and an—although this is a subjective understanding of the word—prolific high schooler. In high school, she was part of many clubs and did many things outside of school as well. I ask her about how she views high school, others, and her work ethic. We talk about things that feel like a chore and I ask her if she ever feels like she needs to discipline herself to do her work. Ella Lee-Guest makes an appearance. We talked about the college admissions process, doing her essays, and the waiting; she also talks about why college is important to her. I ask her if she reads and how she produces time magically. She talks about her sleep habits and how her some of her favorite weeks of high school were the busiest—the adrenaline rush of getting everything done; sometimes you can’t do everything, planning her stuff ahead, scheduling, and calling a friend. Right when we were going to finish, we started recording again because Ella asked Sanjana a question about sleep. We proceeded to talk about maintaining her habits and being self-conscious.

Transcript and chapter markers:  

00:00:01: Testing

00:00:40: Perception, doing activities in high school

00:03:33: Sources of motivation

00:08:09: Seeing opportunity

00:12:58: Doing things you love

00:13:55: Senioritis, Ella

00:16:26: College admissions

00:21:13: Good college pressure

00:26:22: Why college

00:28:20: Reading

00:30:11: Productivity, and time management

00:34:06: Strategies

00:37:03: Sleep, habits, and self-consciousness

https://unswamped.podbean.com/e/sanjana-kumar/ 

Recorded in a hotel room in Hyatt Place Fresno on the last day of our CHSSA State Championship tournament. It was morning of Sunday, April 14, 2024.