Arjun

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

– Albert Einstein

Hello, my name is Arjun. I am 13 years old. I’ve been going to Hamilton Park Montessori School for 9 years. I see myself as many different things.

I am very passionate about many things, whether they be inside or outside of school. I love to learn and cover new topics whether it be in humanities or math, and I am very passionate about tennis and coding.

I am driven to build a career from the ground up. Given the importance of technology in today's world I have been taking online coding classes for the past four years to build a good foundation. I am also driven to be the best version of myself. I always apply myself to all of my classes.

I am a very hardworking person and I always show my best self in my work. I always complete a given task and I go above and beyond in my endeavors.

Thank you for viewing my portfolio.

Academic Pursuits

Our Middle School curriculum consists of many classes, this year we have Humanities, Math, Spanish, SEL and Science/STEM. I love these classes and I feel I can really apply myself to the fullest in them.

HUMANITIES

Our humanities class is about many different topics, but the common theme is history. In my 6th grade, we did civics and learned the ins and outs of American law and history. Then in my 7th grade we did ancient civilizations where we learned about the many diverse cultures of the ancient world. This year we are learning about the 20th century, with WW1 and WW2, the great depression and the Age of Imperialism.

Read My Paper

Of all the essays I have written so far, this one is my favorite. I am proud of my research and wording. I love to write persuasive essays, as they are challenging and they are similar to a debate, which has always been something I have loved.

MATH

I have always been proficient at math and enjoy a good challenge. I have made many achievements in math; when I was in the 7th grade, I took the AMC8 test. It was a very hard but rewarding challenge. This year, I have taken it upon myself to learn more advanced topics, like Geometry and Algebra 2.

In My Free Time..

Over the course of the summer, I was lucky enough to get invited to the US Open, by NetGen. I practiced with friends for a month to prepare for the day. When the day came, my mother and I went to the US Open and made our way to the grand slam stadium and started playing. It was a really fun experience to get to play on the courts and see the pros.

I also play on my school’s Basketball team, which is a really fun team sport.

Tae Kwon Do

I’ve taken Tae Kwon Do since I was 3 years old until the age of 9. It really taught me a lot about self-defense and discipline.

My Passion for Tech

To me programming is a way to solve world problems using technology. To gain access to knowledge or to make grocery shopping a little easier, technology has solved a lot of problems.

Recently I lost a friend to cancer. That really hurt me and got me thinking that with technology, we could make treatments less painful and further motivate patients to keep going. Technology could also go as far as emulating the good cells which we could put into patients so they have an army that can fight against the cancerous cells and defeat them. We could also model the process of going through cancer to find new cures.

This is just one of the many issues technology can solve and one of the many reasons I would love to pursue programming as a career.

Volunteer Work

Raising money for Education for Ukrainian Refugees in Jersey City

One of our service projects was raising money for Ukrainian refugees. My friends and I can be seen on the roof of our school, where we were interviewed by a local reporter about our efforts. It was a fun day to celebrate our contributions to the lives of others.

The Newspaper Club

In my 7th grade year, I was a co-editor of the school newspaper. I wrote and edited many different articles. I even went to businesses and offered to advertise them in the newspaper. It was a great experience and it taught me how to manage a business and also greatly improved my writing skills.

Below is an advertisement I secured from a local business as well as an article I wrote.

Stock Market Challenge

Clubs

I’ve been a member of the following clubs and extracurriculars during my school years:

Robotics: We competed twice in the First Lego League Challenge pre-pandemic
Stock Market Challenge: This class inspired me to try my hand at the stock market with money I have earned from after-school jobs
Montessori Model UN: See more below
Newspaper Club: I was one of the founding members of the “HPMS Middle School Times” Newspaper
Coding Classes: I participated in many coding classes where I learned to code in JAVA and Python
Virtual Reality (VR) Research Study: I participated in a multi-week study where researchers were trying to determine the effectiveness of teaching and learning using Virtual Reality; I also got to experiment with the VR headset
St. Peter’s Prep Leadership Program, “Leading Self, Leading Others” 2022, 2023

Montessori Model UN

I participated in MMUN when I was in Upper Elementary as well as Middle School. I always enjoy learning about current events and enjoyed meeting people from all over the world. I was part of SOCHUM Committee representing the Country of Kenya. Click below to read my position paper.