Chances are you know, or have at least heard of, senior Disha Patel. Her outgoing personality and friendly attitude are the reasons for her popularity at LHS.

She is our senior class treasurer and part of student council. Although she’s very involved, Disha is a regular student just like the rest of us at LHS.

Disha begins her day haphazardly as she wakes up in the morning. “I take a shower, get dressed, and skip breakfast, because I’m always late,” she admitted. “And then I have to run to school so Mr. Bylicki doesn’t yell at me for being late first period.”

Disha’s school days are typical. “School is school. Government is the best class, then I have Physics, study, English, Calc, which makes me want to cry every day, Spanish, and then Gym,” she said.

Disha is also a part of senior patrol, which we all know everyone at LHS loves so much. “I’m the smallest senior patrol person there is, but I still scream super loud, and I’m proud of that,” she said.

“Right after school, I either have student council with Bylicki, or with our senior class advisors, then it’s cross country until 4:30ish,” she explained.

Outside of school, Disha enjoys doing some of her hobbies.

“It’s weird, but I actually love cross country and running. I had to work my butt off for it, and still do, but it clears my head from school all the time. Oh, and I love reading too,” she said.

Other than that, Disha enjoys watching movies for fun when she’s bored, Gossip Girl and Vampire Diaries in particular . “Netflix is my best friend,” she said.

Disha works at Baystate Dental in the morning on the weekends. “Partick Klosek’s parents employed me and Patrick a year ago. his Dad is a co-owner of Baystate, so we both work from his home office,” she said.

Disha plays a big role when it comes to organizing events for the class of 2013. She’s very involved in the school, and takes part in lots of extracurricular activities. “I went from freshman year, being a rep for our class. Followed by sophomore year when I went for treasurer, and I have held the spot ever since. I’ve been doing student council all four years under Bylicki, and I am VP under Kara Baillargeon,” she said.

“Then every year I help out with fundraisers, field trips, t-shirts, prom, class bonding, and a bunch of other things,” said Disha.

And to go along with this impressive list of ways she strives to help out at our school, Disha is also in the National Honors Society, certainly a great achievement.

Disha’s pretty set on her plans for after high school. “Four-year college for sure,” said Patel. “My dream schools are Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern, and Suffolk. They’re all hard to get into and really expensive, so we’ll see. As for what career I’m pursuing, I’m thinking law right now, because my interest in math and science is nonexistent,” she said.

Disha says she plans on living in Massachusetts all her life. “If I were to move, the only choice would be Boston,” said Patel.

Disha is one of two children in the Patel family, the other being her younger sister, junior Gopi Patel.
Being of Indian heritage, many people are under the common misconception that Disha’s family doesn’t celebrate traditional holidays.

“Holidays are pretty typical, despite what most people may think. Christmas is normal with a tree and stuff. On Halloween we give out candy, and on birthdays we have cake and give presents,” said Disha.

But there are Indian holidays which her family celebrates in October and November.

“There’s the festival of lights- Diwali. We say special prayers for our gods, and attend festivals,” she said.

Patel explains that her parents were born in India and came to the U.S. in 1992. “I went there once way back in 1996, and my parents try to follow all the customs and traditions in our household from when they were younger,” said Patel.

“We speak Gujarati because my parents are from the state of Gujarat,” she said. Disha can speak the language fluently, yet something else to add to her list of accomplishments.

With all the responsibilities building up for the senior class, from college applications to the stress of maintaining good grades to insure graduation, Disha’s main focus right now is enjoying her final year of high school.

“It’s important that everybody in the class of 2013 enjoys their senior year, since it’s (hopefully) our only one,” she said.