Most high school seniors wait with bated breath for graduation, counting down the days before they leave their hometown or go to college. However for Swati Goel—an alumna in the class of 2020—the dream was a little different. She wanted to be on “Survivor,” a reality-competition TV show. “Survivor” follows 16-20 contestants over the course of 26 days while stranded on an island. They must provide food, water, fire and shelter for themselves while competing in tribal and individual challenges with the goal of avoiding elimination by competitors and becoming the “Sole Survivor,”—the recipient of a $1 million prize. “As soon as I graduated high school, the first thing I did was apply,” Goel said. 

Goel has always been one for a challenge. Combining her love for the U.S. and passion for wanting to serve, Goel took a gap year to do basic combat training for the Army National Guard before embarking on her collegiate journey to study Computer Science at Harvard University. Goel’s intensive training, consisted of weightlifting, cycling and other physical exercises, equipping her both mentally and physically to embark on another challenge: being selected to compete on “Survivor” in summer of 2021.