SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Kavish Kondap is a senior at Francis Parker High School, and besides attending class each day, saying he keeps busy would be a massive understatement.
"I do research at UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. I run my own non-profit where I teach students about STEM," he said. "I raise money for kids to get food in India, and I also do taekwondo, and that's about it."
That is a pretty busy schedule, but there is more. He recently attended the prestigious Summer Science Program. He was one of 200 students selected out of 2,600 applicants.
"I was very surprised to be selected, but it's a program for astrophysics, biochemistry and genomics," Kondap said. "It's sort of researched focused, so you are doing something that has never been done before. In my case, we were tracking a near-Earth asteroid and determining whether or not it was going to hit the Earth."
Now, while Kavish has a love for astrophysics and space travel, he doesn't want to be an astronaut. His main interest is building rockets and space rovers.
"When I was about 7-years-old, my family visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida," he said. "I got to see a rocket take off, and to experience that, I realized that is what I wanted to do. I want to be the one that makes the rocket that goes into outer space."
So, as you can see, Kavish is a remarkable student. He has a GPA of 5.0 and has an incredible love for astrophysics. He also happens to have a passion for athletics and taekwondo. He happens to be a four-time world champion.
"It's a really great way to destress. Obviously, having some sort of physical activity is always good," he said. "But especially being in taekwondo. Being on a team allows you to collaborate with a lot of people."
Kavish is a very motivated and busy high school student, but that hasn't stopped him from giving back to the community. He and a friend started a non-profit teaching kids from underserved communities all about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
"We have taught around 300 students in STEM, and I feel really happy that I'm able to give students that same experience that I was given. I hope to keep that cycle going, so eventually, those students will teach more students," he says.
After graduation, he hoped to attend MIT or Caltech and study Mechanical Engineering and Astrophysics.
