“Dedication.” That’s how upper school debate coach Greg Achten would describe senior Sachin Shah, echoing the sentiments of his friends and teammates. 

“He’s the first kid to sign up for tournaments, and he goes to all of the tournaments,” Achten said. “He’s gone from being somewhat shy to really being a part of the team and being an outgoing leader.”

Beginning in sixth grade, Sachin experimented with a few different debate events before settling on Lincoln-Douglas debate, a one-on-one competition with arguments over predetermined resolutions. Since then, Sachin has become an active member of the team, serving as a debate captain for the past two years and qualifying to the Tournament of Champions (TOC) his junior year. Apart from the competitive aspect, participating in tournaments and attending debate camps has allowed Sachin to meet new people, discover varying perspectives and mature as a person. 

“Debate forces you to be a lot more fluid and to be a lot more open to forming your own opinions. Forcing myself to recognize that other people are both entitled to their opinions and have valid reasons for them was really important because it made me recognize why they might have those opinions and then adopt some of their perspectives into my own,” Sachin said. 

Often spending hours researching critical theories and reading arguments, Sachin brings the same dedication and perseverance to debate as he does with everything else — whether it be volunteering at Red Cross, playing the piano or folding origami. Starting when he was around six years old, origami provides Sachin with a creative outlet outside an otherwise academically-inclined sphere. 

“It started when I was really little. I had the little beginner origami set and then just started really enjoying it. It started becoming something that I would just do when I was stressed and needed time to relax,” Sachin said. “Being able to see something come together as [I’m] doing it and gives me the gratification I need to see through the projects.”

After several creations over the years requiring countless hours of folding and assembly, Sachin’s current long-term project involves a bowl-like structure consisting of over 200 pieces of paper, which he has intermittently been working on since the beginning of high school. 

“Doing things that are simple to make but look complicated really appeal to me,” Sachin said. “There’s like a style of origami called Kusudama which is making ball-shaped sculptures out of multiple pieces of paper, and those are probably the ones that stand out most to me just because they require a lot of time and effort.”

Beyond origami, Sachin remains unafraid of experimenting with different hobbies, bringing the same trademark dedication to everything he does — even his friendships. 

“He can sing Phantom of the Opera — the entire thing, the girls part too. It’s amazing,” Sana Pandey (12) said. “I remember I got really into Bollywood in middle school, and he learned Bollywood songs just so that he could annoy me with them. He puts in a lot of effort into his friendships, but he does it in a very nonchalant way.”

Armed with a sense of humor his friends describe as “quirky,” Sachin can add flavor to any conversation, drawing on a database of eclectic knowledge picked up mostly through debate. 

“Sachin is a great conversationalist with very eclectic interests. A conversation with Sachin is like playing multi-dimensional chess. It’s very fun and leads you to unexpected places,” close friend Vani Mohindra (12) said. 

Through everything he does, the motivation for Sachin is simply finding happiness, which for him, often comes through dedication and effort. 

“Nothing I do is really about external approval anymore. When I do something, I do it because it makes me happy and because I genuinely enjoy doing it,” Sachin said. “When I put more effort into something, I’m more inclined to want to try harder at it in the future and then that will keep perpetuating itself and making me happy.”