Nidhi Lad is a high school senior at Paint Branch High School. She, like many other students, is feeling the added difficulty of attending school online. Since Covid closed schools, Nidhi has struggled with the effects of online learning. On a scale from 1-10, she rates the excitement in her life as a four.  She even says that “The highlight of my day is when there’s no homework,” a sentiment that many students share.  

For Nidhi, there are a number of things that help her get through the day in addition to her multifaceted personality. Outside of school, Nidhi is surrounded by her dog Nina all the time, which means all of the time now that we are learning online. She recently used her dog as the subject for her college essay, talking about how convincing her parents to get a dog taught her determination. 

When talking about her greatest weaknesses she says that letting go of a goal is very hard for her, but she finds that determination is her greatest strength. In school Nidhi works hard to stay on the honor roll and succeed in all her science courses, which is important to her goal of becoming a pediatrician in the future. Like many students across the country, Covid restrictions have prevented Nidhi from participating in outside of school programs, which, for Nidhi, means not having a medical internship this year. Calling determination her greatest strength, she pushed herself by taking four AP courses in her senior year. 

For those who know Nidhi personally, the eccentric side of her is what really stands out. For example, skittles are one of her favorite candies, but she insists on only eating the orange ones. She often jokes with herself and calls herself a princess for being so dainty and eating so little. She’s about 5’3, petite, and is hardly ever seen eating anything more than a bag of chips for lunch, and the way she nibbles on her small snack often resembles a little chipmunk. 

With Avatar the Last Airbender getting popular again, her love of the show stands out. As for what bending style is her favorite, she picks Waterbending. She explains the bending style as superior to the rest as it can be used in many applications including healing and defense. 

When pressed to share some other details about herself, Nidhi opens up to share that her name means wealth or treasure in Hindi, which makes sense given her princess-like tendencies. Her favorite dessert is brownies, and she prefers milk chocolate over dark chocolate. The weirdest thing she’s ever eaten is goat brain, which you have to admit is quite fascinating. Finally the worst thing a person can do to her is lie, so future relations, please don’t lie to her, it wouldn’t turn out good for you.