Eastchester Valedictorian Heads To Harvard This Fall

For Raina Gandhi, this year's valedictorian of being ambitious runs in the family. 

Gandhi, a first generation Indian-American, will head to Harvard College this fall. The youngest of three children, her older sisters are graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh and NYU, respectively.

Amongst other prestigious colleges, Gandhi said she was accepted into MIT and Georgetown University on early decision, but she ultimately decided that Harvard would be the best fit.

The 17-year-old said it's important to her to be close enough to home that she will be able to come back to visit her parents.

But while she's getting adjusted to college life in Boston this fall, she'll be focusing intently on her studies—most likely in business and economics—just as she's done for the past four years at EHS.

Gandhi doesn't consider being named valedictorian her greatest accomplishment though. Instead, she said that being voted by her peers to the position of Executive President of EHS's student government has been her highest achievement. Through this position, Gandhi has dedicated much of her time to organizing charity events.

EHS Principal Jeffrey Capuano said Gandhi's volunteerism is best exhibited through her participation in Habitat for Humanity events as well as the school's environmental club. He said she's a genuinely kind person who has "evidenced the highest degree of academic success and scholarship."

A member of the National Honor Society, Gandhi also received a $1,000 scholarship from the Young Epidemiology Scholars after being named a semi-finalist for her research on childhood obesity.

During her sophomore year at EHS, Gandhi started a research project that led to her working in conjunction with doctors at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx to find effective ways to curb childhood obesity.

"I started researching and reading about the psychological effects of obesity and other associated disorders," she said.

During her summers off from school, Gandhi, in conjunction with doctors at Albert Einstein, worked with kids ages 7 through 12 to find effective ways for the children to "become aware of their own health." Gandhi created different games and measured which ones were most effective in helping the kids lead healthier lifestyles.

The paper she co-authored, "Evaluating the KidWAVE: A New Approach to Increasing Health Awareness," was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior earlier this year.

While Gandhi is now just finishing up AP exams and working on the speech she'll read to her classmates and the school community on graduation day, she said she's excited, if a bit scared, to start taking on new challenges in the next chapter of her life.