Photo courtesy of Ernesto Sto Domingo.
For National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Feb. 5, all senior female athletes were invited to a luncheon at the college extension. Guest speaker MHS alumna Jit Athwal, talked about her time at MHS, achieving a division title in basketball and winning the Leo B. Murphy award her senior year.
Athwal, from the class of 2007, shared how her personal experience as a female athlete shaped her future. She attended Fresno State to play Division 1 volleyball, before moving to Los Angeles. She is now an entrepreneur, running her own business Modern Schoolhouse, which includes “Mensa,” a high IQ society, and as of fall 2025 will have four locations in Los Angeles with around 200 students.
Athwal took the stage to share her story, reflecting on how being a student-athlete impacted her life.
“I had been a student-athlete all my life, and I knew nothing else,” Athwal said. “I remember thinking, what did people do after school with all that extra time and how boring days must have been compared to getting ready for a 7 pm game.”
Athwal is an inspiration – not just as an athlete, educator, and entrepreneur – but as someone who took her passion and transformed it into something extraordinary, Athletic Director Joanna Butcher said.
“Sports have been more than just a game; they have shaped us into confident, determined individuals, equipped with a strong work ethic that transcends the playing field,” Butcher said. “As I reflect on my own journey, I am filled with gratitude for the lessons learned as a multisport athlete and a coach here at MHS.”
Listening to Athwal’s journey was very inspiring and interesting, senior soccer athlete Sarra Yadav said.
“I was very inspired by this day,” Yadav said. “I’m so happy that they have this for women, but also it’s kind of sad how they have to have this kind of a day for women and why there’s no national men in sports day. Honestly I’m glad that women are finally getting recognition.”
The senior female athletes are the faces that will be inspiring little girls that look up to them, Athwal said.
“D1 showed me a life of discipline, strategy, analytics, and real-world situations that shaped many of my views,” Athwal said. “D2 however, allowed me to learn more about myself and understand the grit I continuously exuded during both my high school and college years when faced with adversity.”
Hardships are to come with being a female student-athlete, senior badminton athlete Arida Narayan said. It’s how you face them and overcome them and be resilient, which will help you prosper in the future, Narayan said.
“As women, we are often faced with societal expectations on how to conform,” senior athlete Arida Narayan said. “We need to act a certain way and behave a certain way. However, I believe our experiences as high school athletes have empowered us to become resilient women.”
Yadav liked how Narayan talked about how a lot of girls that do athletics are seen as loud, or all over the place, which isn’t always the case; we’re just athletes, she said.
“Sports shaped my life in unspeakable ways,” Yadav said. “I’m so glad I did it, because it allowed me to get a different perspective of everything,” she said. “I learned a lot about communication and a lot of these things; it gave me a sense of direction.”
You practice work ethic and time management which is really hard to balance as a student-athlete, but I learned a lot during a difficult adjustment period, Yadav said. Her message to younger girls is don’t be afraid of going into sports, she added.
“I know it’s scary going to sports; I was very scared,” Yadav said. “I wanted to do ice skating for the longest time. Don’t be afraid; a lot of my friends I have now are because of sports,” Yadav said. “Don’t fixate on one thing… I fixated a lot on soccer, I wish I went and did a lot more sports.”