Hopewell Valley High School senior Arjan Ahluwalia, a 6-foot-6 power forward on the basketball team, will study a pre-med major in college (photo courtesy Mike Schwartz Photography).

At his preseason meeting, Hopewell Valley High School boys' basketball coach Tony Mormile looked out at his players and saw something he had never seen before in his 11 seasons: a player taking notes. In hindsight, perhaps it wasn't surprising considering Arjan Ahluwalia's academic merit.

The 6-foot-6 senior power forward is Hopewell Valley's go-to person. Not necessarily on the basketball court, but as the tutor chairperson for the school's National Honor Society chapter. Ahluwalia is responsible for matching up fellow NHS members with students from the high school and Timberlane Middle School who need academic tutoring. The program’s volunteer assistance ranges in many classes, from English to Latin and sixth-grade math to 12th-grade AP chemistry classes.

“I would say on average I get three requests a day forwarded from the NHS teachers,” says Ahluwalia, who last spring was voted by fellow NHS students to be the tutor chair.

“Hopefully, we'll help the student's grades improve in the future. It's a rewarding experience seeing the students who are struggling in math or something else now striving with some help.”

Talk about a smart team, Ahluwalia is one of six Hopewell Valley basketball players in the school’s NHS chapter, the others being Ali Aneizi, Tyler Bell, Chris Martin, Ben Meer and Brian Miller. Ahluwalia carries a 93.5 grade-point average and wants to become a doctor. He is captain of the debate team, started the school’s Young Democrats of America club, is part of the Peer Leaders club which helps freshmen become acclimated to the high school, and does volunteer work, which this past summer included helping to build a playground in Trenton.

“He has a great personality, works hard in class, cares about others,” Mormile says. “He works great with children, which I get to witness firsthand at my camp (the Bulldogs Basics Basketball Camp).”

Ahluwalia works great with teammates, too, and not just because he is a scorer with quickness and a soft touch around the basketball. Recently after school, and before a basketball practice, he tutored a teammate in math.

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