STEAM senior prepares for future success by seizing academic and volunteer opportunities

When faced with an academic challenge, Mark Jaikaran practices discipline and extreme precision in order to position himself for success in the future. As a senior at Mount Vernon STEAM Academy, Mark is gearing up for college by keeping strong in his education and community engagement. 

Mark currently has a grade point average of 94.3% and has taken a number of Advanced Placement (AP) courses over his time at STEAM. This year, he is enrolled in three advanced classes – AP Biology, AP U.S. Government and Politics, and AP Literature and Composition. These courses prepare students like Mark for college by introducing them to college-level materials and a heavier workload. 

“It's a workload and combined with college stuff, it can be a lot,” said Mark. “It’s all about time management and being able to know yourself and learn discipline.” 

During high school, Mark has molded himself into a very well-rounded student. He partakes in several clubs and extracurricular activities such as student government, volunteer work and the badminton club. 

During the summer, Mark was a volunteer at the Westchester Medical Group and amassed 110 hours in the catheterization unit, helping to take care of patients before and after they went into heart surgery. Mark is planning to be a heart surgeon and currently volunteers for this program to get real-world experience before college. 

“Being in the surrounding area was a good way to see if that’s what I wanted to be,” said Mark. “I did basic stuff. We helped the patients, brought food for them, talked to them, and helped them feel safe. It was a good experience.” 

Mark has also done community service with his teacher, Karl Niffentof, who is a member of the Mount Vernon Federation of Teachers (MVFT). The MVFT held a food drive where students could gain 10 hours of volunteering by packing, labeling, and distributing products to the less fortunate. 

Mark is also a member of STEAM’s badminton club, which he helped establish as a member of the school’s student government. In his junior year, Mark served as secretary and now, as a senior, treasurer. 

“You get to collaborate with your friends and meet other people in the school through the student government,” said Mark. “The homecoming took a whole month of preparation, and after all the activities happened, we were so proud of ourselves.”

At Lehman College, Mark has had the privilege of conducting research for three semesters in the subjects of statistics, biology, and environmental science in the ninth and 10th grades. 

In his free time, Mark can be found drawing or playing the piano!

In his senior year, Mark has applied to 18 colleges, four of those being SUNY schools and two of which are CUNY institutions. He has applied to New York University, Dartmouth College, SUNY Stony Brook, Columbia University and Cornell University. He is looking for a school with an excellent biology or chemistry program to take him one step further towards his goal of becoming a cardiac surgeon. 

He plans to enter a pre-medical track during undergraduate studies, then move on to medical school and a medical residency to make his dream a reality. 

Mark knew he wanted to become a cardiac surgeon when he took TJ Pufahl’s Principles of Biomedical Science class in the ninth grade. One of his favorite memories at STEAM is when he dissected a sheep’s heart during Mr. Pufahl’s class. He had to label each part of the organ, and it was similar to a human heart. He enjoyed how Mr. Pufal’s class was structured like a murder mystery and how interactive learning at STEAM is. 

“I love how STEAM is an interactive school,” said Mark. “It's not like they just read stuff off the boards to you, they make you interact with your environment and peers. That's one of the best parts of the school.”