Kirtan Subramaniam is a focused, curious, and resilient academic student. He is commented to school, and aspires to achieve in whatever he puts his mind to. When it comes to life, he is always up for a challenge and refuses to allow circumstances to bring him down. To attain this mindset, he tries to see every predicament as “a glass-half-full, not half-empty” (Subramaniam, 2021). This optimism encourages him to see and do his best in every situation. Kirtan believes that school has the ability to open up a world of curiosity. In one of our discussions, he said “I am the type of person to wonder about things that are taught to me even beyond the classroom…I’ve even spent hours upon hours being curious about random and trivial information” (Subramaniam, 2021). Based on his statement, learning was never a forced task but an opportunity to expand his understanding of valued topics. Within the classroom, Kirtan was able to found his passion, and outside the classroom, he continued to nurture it. Kirtan’s academic self can be condensed into those three words and as he pursues higher education, it continues to flourish.  

To appreciate Kirtan’s academic self, we should take the time to explore his academic journey. Kirtan started his academic career at Dunwoody Elementary School. He stayed there from kindergarten through 2^nd grade, until his family moved to Cumming, Georgia. In Cumming, Kirtan finished elementary school at Whitlow and continued to Vickery Creek Middle School. After middle school, he went to South Forsyth High School and graduated from there in 2020. He currently is attending Georgia State University and majoring in Computer Science. He entered that major in hopes of one day becoming a developer for cryptocurrency companies. This semester, he is taking Economics, Math 2212, CS 1302, and, of course, English 1102. Thus far in English 1102, his favorite reading was “Taking my Parent to College” by Jennine Capó Crucet. Being a child of immigrants and a “first generation” American, Kirtan found this piece relatable in prospect to his own life experiences. He connected with the fact that he also had to grow up watching his parents struggle to understand American customs and did his best to help them along the way. Kirtan not only got strength from his education but also from his family, to become the fierce academic student he is today.   

Before closing, I would like to share something that I think really sums up Kirtan’s character. When discussing issues such as the pandemic and online school he said, “I guess lockdown sort of made me more distracted, but two things I have fundamentally realized is that: You can either make excuses or succeed, and discipline is the key to everything” (Subramaniam 2021). We can all agree that the pandemic had major effects on our lives, but how are you responding to those effects? Are you making excuses or are you finding ways to succeed in your circumstances? Kirtan has been able to succeed by seeing the pandemic as “a glass half full and not empty” and being disciplined in the areas he needed the most. If Kirtan Subramaniam can do it, can you?

Source Cited:

Subramaniam, Kirtan. (2021) Questionnaire. Unpublished paper, Georgia State University.