St. Ed’s senior Kishore Chundi just finished his high school athletic career as the No. 1 hurler on the baseball team and a three-point shooting specialist on the basketball team.
Success in those roles required good decision-making, and he had to make an even bigger one in recent days when it came down to which college he would attend. As it turned out, a slam dunk was virtually guaranteed. There was no way he was going to strike out on this one.
“Definitely all three schools were great choices and I was really fortunate and lucky to get into all of them,” Chundi explained about the collegiate home run derby featuring sluggers Yale vs. Harvard vs. Oxford.
“But I think it came down to the American schools just because I liked the concept of a broader education as opposed to the more specialized focus that British universities have.
“For me it came down to a lot of small things. I chose Yale because I was accepted into the Directed Studies Program. For the first year you read a lot of the foundational texts of Western civilization covering philosophy, politics, literature and history.
“That definitely fits into my interests. Further on I want to specialize in a language. I’m thinking of possibly studying French, or maybe Arabic, or maybe even Urdu and Hindi. But I also want to study history and philosophy.”
Chundi credits his time at St. Ed’s for preparing him to take on such a demanding curriculum at Yale. The young man obviously hit the books with gusto, but he also set aside some time to enjoy playing two major sports that he will be reluctant to let go.
“I came to St. Ed’s in seventh grade so this is my sixth and final year here,” Chundi said. “I came here because my dad really liked the education that was provided as well as all of the other opportunities that are available.
“In seventh grade I got to play basketball, a sport I never really played before. At another school I would never have been able to do that, but here they have a no-cut policy. That encouraged me and I wanted to work even harder. I was able to get much better in basketball.”
His basketball stats won’t jump off the page, but through extra hard work and practice, especially during the summer, he was able to develop a reliable long range shot. “I was never the quickest or fastest guy on the court,” he said. “But that’s what I was able to contribute to the team.”
The aspiring historian took over when the discussion switched to baseball.
“I also started playing baseball in seventh grade and moved up to the varsity in eighth grade. My first year on the varsity we started out 8-0 (finishing 18-6) and had a lot of really great players. I was on the bench most of the time. In ninth grade we lost a bunch of seniors and it was sort of an average season (9-10).
“The next year was kind of depressing. We were 4-15 but my hitting improved because we were facing some pretty good pitching. Last year was definitely a step up (6-9) and most of the guys came back this year. They had improved a lot and we really became a cohesive team.”
The Pirates ended the 2016 season at 11-4. Chundi said, “This year has been a lot of fun. I knew on the mound that the fielding behind me was going to be very good. The guys caught most of the balls they could get their hands on. That’s comforting as a pitcher. I definitely went out on a high note athletically.
“I love both sports and I could never choose between them. For basketball I have no shot in college, but I wouldn’t mind playing intramurals to keep in touch with the game. But I’m definitely going to try to walk-on the baseball team. I will try out and see. You never know.”
The mixture of academics and athletics has certainly benefitted this young man. He took full advantage of the opportunity to explore a variety interests in his six years at St. Ed’s.
However, one area could use some fine tuning. He tested his finest Oxford accent when discussing the possibility going to school on the other side of the pond. Objectively speaking it was pretty good, but the decision to stay in the states was probably a wise one.
“I know what I’m interested in academically right now and where that will take me,” he said. “After undergraduate school I will probably go to law school. Then we will see what happens.”
