The Ghostwriter had the opportunity to sit down and interview Rish Rajput for our Student Spotlight series. Read the transcript below for our full interview!

Senior Rish Rajput discusses topics such as his plans for the future after graduating from WA, as well as some of his hobbies. Rajput also talks about his involvement in DECA and gives advice to current and soon-to-be WA students who are interested in joining the Business Club.

Q: What’s your name?

A: I’m Rish Rajput. 

Q: What grade are you in?

A: I’m a senior.

Q: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

A: Ten years is a long time, and I’m not someone who believes in planning too much, but I see myself out of grad school, maybe living in a nice city like New York, or maybe somewhere in Los Angeles, because I want to live in a city at one point in my life. […] I’ll probably be living in a city, working a job. I want to go into business and management, so I’ll probably be doing something for that. 

Q: What would you say is your favorite city that you’ve visited?

A: Probably New York. I know it’s a basic answer, but I like New York a lot because there’s always something going on there, and I’m someone who likes to go out a lot, so I know that wouldn’t be a problem there. 

Q: Where would you go if it was somewhere that was outside of the US?

A: I was born in India, so I like visiting India, but I feel like I want to go to a place like Japan, because a lot of my friends have been talking about it and a lot of my friends are from there. I just want to visit and see places in Japan. I like a lot of brands that come from there like Uniqlo, so it would be nice to visit those stores. 

Q: You mentioned wanting to go into business, does that relate to what you are doing at DECA?

A: Yeah, so at DECA, I’m in a team decision making event, where our event is about sports and entertainment. We just recently made it to ICDC [International Career Development Conference], which this year is in Anaheim, so I’m really excited for that. Me and my partner, Adam Wedlake [are going], so shout out to him. 

Q: You’re a senior, this is your last year at WA. Do you have any plans over the summer?

A: Not yet. I’m probably going to end up going somewhere, like a trip or something. I have a trip coming up– I’m going to Anaheim for DECA, so let’s see. I’m planning on getting a job somewhere, making some money while having some fun, because […] there’s not much going on in the summer. It’ll be nice. 

Q: What would you say your hobbies are right now?

A: Right now, I’m a really good basketball player, you can ask all my friends. I’m probably the best one out of all of them. […] I love playing basketball, and it’s just really fun. […] I just started going to the gym recently, so I enjoy doing that as well. 

Q: Do you follow basketball, the games that happen professionally?

A: No, not really, because I like playing more than watching, so I’d rather be out there playing than just watching. I enjoy watching soccer though. I’m not very good at [playing soccer], so I enjoy watching that. 

Q: Do you play or watch any other sports?

A: I used to run track and field, but as a senior I’ve stopped doing that because it’s time to do other things, like basketball and go to the gym. […]

Q: Do you have a favorite class or subject that you’ve had throughout your time at WA?

A: I enjoyed all of my business classes. My teachers like Mrs. Lehan, Mrs. Ricard, [they] were great. So, I loved those classes. […] I loved psychology because it was just so interesting to learn about how humans work […] and my teacher was Mr. Hafferkamp, so that was also one of my favorite classes. 

Q: You mentioned wanting to study business, would you also be interested in studying psychology in college?

A: Yeah, I’m planning on minoring or double majoring […] in psychology. Or at least taking some classes in that field because it’s just very interesting to me, so I want to do something with that. 

Q: Do you have any advice for someone who also wants to do business or wants to do DECA?

A: My first advice is just get started. If you even are considering doing something like DECA or want to go into business, get into DECA right now, or just try and do your research. Talk to Mrs. Lehan, talk to Mrs. Ricard, talk to one of the officers, talk to someone, because we’re all here to help you. If you want to try it, just try it, because you’re probably going to end up liking it and you’re probably going to want to go to States and ICDC. You get to go to places like Anaheim, and last year we went to Orlando, like why would you not want to do that? 

Q: Have you gone on any other trips from school?

A: No, I have not gone [on any other] trips from school. I wasn’t even able to go to the Washington DC trip because of COVID and everything, so that was probably a disruption there. I’ve [mostly] just gone for DECA, and I used to go to Boston for meets, for track and field […].