Meet Pavithran!

Thanks to all those who showed up for our Half Day workshop last Saturday! If you were there, you would have met some of the core committee members we have introduced over the past few weeks in person. For the benefit of those who weren’t able to turn up, let us introduce another core committee member – Pavithran! Keeping the sessions in check and making sure they run smoothly, he’s been working hard behind the scenes to ensure the workshop sessions meet your expectations.

Ready to find out more? Let’s see what he has to say:

Introduce yourself!

*Cue Budweiser commercial*

Whaaaaaaaaazaaaaaaaaappp/aaaaaaaaap/eeeeeeeeep/eeeeeeeeh/uuuuuuuuuuuh.

What’s good? I go by the name of Pavithran Nair but I have a ridiculous amount of nicknames. My friends call me everything from Puff, Pavster, Paviths, Peeves, Puffer, Puffy to Powerpuff girls. The only people who call me by my full name, usually on a high note and loud voice, are my parents, and most of the time, it’s foretelling of something bad that’s about to happen to me, if you know what I mean ;) HAHAHAH.

I was born in Pahang, lived in Negeri Sembilan for a couple of years before moving to Kuala Lumpur by the age of 7. I have attended two pre-schools, primary schools, high schools and college-prep schools respectively. What is it about the number two? I don’t know but it is creeping me out as I write this autobiography. Today, I am a rising sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University.

I love good food, interesting people and great conversations! I have had an amazing first year at CMU and some of the things that I have had the opportunity of doing is meeting fantastic people, being a co-founder of a social fraternity called Phi Delta Theta, learning ballroom dancing, becoming semi-pro at video games (okay who am I kidding, not really) and learning how to become a DJ. I have recently been elected as the President of Budaya, the Malaysian society of CMU and I can’t wait to start throwing events!

What did you do in high school?

The high school that I spent the longest time in was Methodist Boys’ Secondary School KL. I had a blast. My friends and I used to monkey around in class and it was so much better for me because I was a prefect! We’d be a zoo in class when there were no teachers, but by the time a teacher stepped foot in our classroom, we’d be angels. Besides being a prefect, I was also Captain and Vice-President of the debate club that my friends and I founded. I made unlikely friends with three other people who had strikingly different personalities but shared the same passion of debate. We trained 7 hours a day after school and managed to become national

champions in year 2010. I also enjoyed public speaking, badminton and chess among other things. I also learned how to manage website content through a website design competition in MBSSKL and that encouraged my interest in website design and programming. MBSSKL was located near the city and I was always inspired by the diverse students that MBSSKL’s century old history attracted. I will never forget the smells, sights and brief moments of passing through Petaling Street with friends after school, a nearby tourist attraction which in retrospect really did capture the essence of Kuala Lumpur.

What is your favorite thing? Food? Music?

I love food and music. I love anything hip-hop and indie. Right now, I am into Ben Haggerty but I am also an avid fan of Sean Carter. In case you didn’t know, Haggerty is Macklemore and Carter is Jay-Z. I am hooked to the songs “The Town” by Macklemore and “Holy Grail” by Jay. I am also into Citizen Cope and a little bit of Progressive House Music. Fun fact : I enjoy covering rap artists during my free time(mostly in the shower!). Food? Anything that’ll make me cry from spiciness is my cup of tea, wait, spice. :P

Why US?

Flexibility and individuality. I love the flexibility that an American education provides because it allows me to explore my interests and choose my subject of study. Just in my first year, I have taken classes ranging from the philosophy to programming to business. Oddly enough, this has allowed me to develop my individuality and become my own person while trying to figure out my interests and I believe this is what every education system in the world should aspire to become.

Tell us a bit about your experience during the application period.

The college application process was overwhelming. Too many things to fill in, so little time. I had a tough time figuring out my personal statement because it was a challenge to represent my life in one page. Admittedly, my biggest help were the support from my friends and the USAPPS Klang-Valley 2-Day Workshop that helped me understand what I needed to represent on paper. I will be there this year and I look forward to seeing you there as well!