Arvind Badhey expects to be the leader of the pack. One of the top cross country runners in the CUNY Athletic Conference doubles as a top-notch academic performer at Brooklyn College.
Beginning his junior year as a member of the defending CUNY Athletic Conference champions, Badhey began the month of September with several strong runs. A Syosset, N.Y., native, he finished first among BC runners in the Baruch Invitational with a time of 34:23 in the 8k course. He placed fourteenth overall with a time of 33:38 to lead the Bridges to a first place team finish at the Queensborough Invitational. He continued to better his times, running a 33:10 at the York College Invitational. During the month, he shaved over a minute off his times at 8k.
Yet, somehow this pales in comparison to his real calling: academics. “Arvind holds to the old Greek philosophy,” said Brooklyn cross country head coach Steve Podias. “He makes use of all his powers along the lines of excellence.”
In three years of classes at Brooklyn College, Badhey has never received a grade lower than an A-. His cumulative grade point average is 3.923. Not surprisingly, he chose a difficult course of study, as he is a double major in biology and philosophy, in the Honors Academy Scholars Program, and in BC’s prestigious BA-MD combined medical degree program.
In biology alone, his GPA is 3.951. As a member of the research team at BC, he has gained valuable experience, working to find the genes responsible for the mating process in Chlamydomonas organism by carrying out continuous gene and organismic analysis.
Naturally, he has earned several honors, awards and letters of distinction. He is a two-time BC scholar-athlete, a Presidential Scholarship winner, member of the Dean’s List, and represented BC at the Chinatown Partnership Gala.
It should serve as no surprise that when Brooklyn College dedicated and opened the new West Quad Building that houses the athletic department, Badhey was chosen to speak, joining Borough President Marty Markowitz and BC President Karen L. Gould.
In his free time, he captain’s the school’s competitive Speech and Debate team. Competing across the US and Canada, he took first place on Poetry/Speech at the College Forensics Association Tournament in Montreal earlier this year.
Yet, he always finds time to run. Sound body, sound mind.