Eva John proves that leadership is more than a title. From her caring personality to her passion for dance, Eva is a great mentor and sincere companion to so many of those around her.
Eva has been involved with Student Council (StuCo) since sophomore year, serving as an advisor for the past two years and now as a vice president. A favorite experience has been contributing to Charity Ball, which was part of what motivated her to run for StuCo in the first place. She said that the event feels especially significant because the money is donated to an organization that directly serves the Raleigh community. She also enjoyed participating in the fall retreat, an October tradition that helps kick off Charity Ball preparations.
Regarding National Honor Society (NHS), Eva was inducted during sophomore year, served as vice president the next year, and is currently president. As the leader of one of Enloe’s largest organizations, Eva prioritizes organization and communication. Senior Dhruv Paul, a fellow NHS member, shared, “There’s a lot of preparations [that go] into setting up events and making sure everyone has TA [Teacher Assistant] assignments. I think she’s done a great job of making sure everyone’s on task and is not straying away from that … so we can start volunteering and get our hours in and also just help the Wake County community.” In terms of service, Eva has appreciated the opportunity to volunteer and meet new people, with her favorite experience being at the Kramden Institute in Durham. Kramden is a nonprofit organization that refurbishes computers and provides them to underserved communities, and Eva enjoyed the hands-on aspect of helping to organize computer parts in their warehouse.
Although her involvement in NHS and Student Council may be more well known, Eva has a (somewhat) secret superpower: dance! Outside of school, she dances with Vandana Performing Arts Company, a competitive Bollywood dance organization. At Enloe, she’s involved with Dance Club and is the president of Dance Pe Chance (DPC), a Bollywood dance club that performs at the Asian Student Association Showcase. In Eva’s words, dance isn’t just a hobby, but her true passion. She added, “I’ll dance anywhere, anytime, put on any music … Dance is truly something I don’t think I could ever get tired of.” Junior Kashvi Gupta, a fellow DPC board member, elaborated, “Eva is one of the best dancers that I know … [Even] if there’s so many people [on stage], once you look at Eva, I feel like you can’t look away.”
Eva’s role in DPC illustrates her talent as both an artist and a leader. When she creates choreography, she always asks for input from club members, brings together different ideas, and adapts to the skill sets within the group. Eva is also a clear and supportive teacher who makes people of all experience levels feel comfortable. Last year, many students weren’t able to come to DPC practices after school because of scheduling conflicts. Eva responded to this by leading practices during both lunches so that all the club members could participate and master the choreography, even though this was a significant sacrifice of time. In the words of Dhruv, “She doesn’t easily give up. She always tries again.”
Despite the pressure of her academic and extracurricular workload, Eva still puts her heart into everything she does. Rather than being motivated by a desire for praise or attention, Eva always works to help others. Ishita Bafna, a senior and close friend, explained, “She’s very humble … For her, [leadership is] not performative … She does these things because she cares about them, and then she also excels at them because it’s genuine. Everything about her is genuine.” Eva also makes a dedicated effort to achieve a healthy perspective and work-life balance. English teacher Ms. Rosenstock stated, “I think of her as having a maturity that’s not necessarily typical … and part of that maturity is expressed by both her ambition but also her ability to put things in context and have a healthy perspective, which is sometimes hard to do at Enloe.”
Furthermore, Eva is a loyal and encouraging friend, always ready to listen and brighten someone’s day. Dhruv shared, “She’s a very caring and thoughtful person, and when it comes to anything social or with friends, she always strives to be there for them.” Highlighting Eva’s outgoing personality, Ishita said, “She’s one of the most genuinely friendly and pure people I know … The people in her life are very important to her and even if she’s met someone once, she’s so incredibly kind to them … If we sit down and we speak, it [never feels] like we’re … forcing the conversation. It just naturally goes from one thing to another, and with her, I feel like I can talk about anything.” Kashvi described how Eva has supported her, stating, “I do think I am the best version of myself around her. I feel like I don’t have to act a certain way or hide things about myself … There’s just been so many ups and downs in both of our lives, especially [during] the last year. We’ve gone through that together [and] she’s always had my back no matter what.”
After high school, Eva plans to major in engineering. For her, engineering is all about problem solving: “You’re able to take a problem and spend some time on it, think about it, [and] figure out … what’s the most efficient situation, and that kind of mindset is really interesting.” With her breadth of talent and experience, we at The Eagle’s Eye are confident that Eva will be successful in whatever she puts her mind to, and we wish her the best of luck as she prepares to leave The Nest!
