{"id":22089,"date":"2026-02-09T15:49:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/?p=22089"},"modified":"2026-03-02T18:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:45:30","slug":"alumni-feature-yash-patel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/2026\/02\/09\/alumni-feature-yash-patel\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Feature – Yash Patel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Image courtesy of Yash Patel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yash Patel (Questrom\u201923) is \u201copen to being inspired these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the midst of studying law, working at the District Attorney\u2019s Office, opening gelato shops on Long Island as an Amorino Franchisee, and becoming a lieutenant at the fire department, Patel somehow had a spare 30 minutes to talk about all the (very many) things he\u2019s been up to since graduating from Boston University and Kilachand Honors College in 2023.<\/p>\n

With a BS in Business Administration with concentrations in Accounting and Law, Patel\u2019s path was pretty straightforward. He went off to PWC to work as a Real Estate Tax Associate in their New York city office. With great support, a good team, and clear steps to climb the ladder, PWC was a great place to be.<\/p>\n

But Patel was looking for something a little different.<\/p>\n

After a year, he decided to pivot. Now, Patel is in his second year at Brooklyn Law School while getting on-the-job training hours at the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

At a desk in the DA\u2019s office with his fire department\u2019s walkie talkie next to him, Patel explained, \u201cI definitely could have chosen a role in the financial industry regulating financial crime, which is probably more aligned with my background, but I decided to do the DA because, one, the office is 10 minutes down the road from the firehouse. I also know a lot of people involved with the DA through my role as a firefighter, and it’s pretty important work.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Law school and the DA may be recent changes, Patel\u2019s time at the fire department actually predates his graduation from BU and KHC.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s something that my late father always wanted to do. He always wanted to help out in the community. And he said, \u2018one day when I retire, I’ll be a firefighter, and my life will be complete because I saved somebody’s house,\u2019\u201d Patel said. \u201cHe never got the chance to do that, so my brother and I decided, \u2018Why don’t we pick it up?\u2019 My brother’s been a firefighter for almost 10 years now, and then I started in 2021, and I fell in love with it.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image courtesy of Yash Patel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLike everything else I do, it\u2019s really centered around people and talking to them. It\u2019s right up my alley. I love doing it. That’s why I decided to go up the ranks this year, Lieutenant now, hopefully Captain soon,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Patel was able to trace this value back to his first job, explaining, \u201cIn high school, I was working at a local Dunkin Donuts. And my family had close ties to that Dunkin\u2019. I would just be making coffee and talking to all these customers that come in. And I started making really good relationships with these people\u2014that’s what really inspired me. I was like, \u2018This is what I want to do for the rest of my life: make relationships with people.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As Patel said, pretty much everything he\u2019s done boils down to community, and that threads through his experiences with KHC and Questrom as a peer mentor and KHC ambassador.<\/p>\n

Patel reflected on some of these experiences saying, “In a packed classroom of 40\/50 freshmen who haven\u2019t even started their first day of school, one student asked where the parties were. I told him exactly where to go, not that I knew that well. I remember the other mentors being like, \u2018You can\u2019t tell them that,\u2019 but to me, a main point of college is to make connections and make friends and have fun. The way you’ll gain something by learning from others perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through his breadth of experience, Patel has stayed committed to the love for the people and communities he serves, and that seems to have made it all worth it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome days I wake up and I’m like, \u2018What am I doing with my life? How am I a firefighter and then also working for the DA in law school and doing other nonsense stuff on the side?\u2019 But then, I look back at a super busy day where I’d been out since eight in the morning and I’m going to sleep at 11, drained but feeling so accomplished with the amount of things I did. It makes me feel good,\u201d he said. \u201cI definitely do have those lows where I feel super lost. It doesn’t mean I’m not happy with where I am right now. I think once I graduate law school, life will settle in.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interview and Profile by Gabby Church, KHC ’26<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yash Patel (Questrom\u201923) is \u201copen to being inspired these days.\u201d In the midst of studying law, working at the District Attorney\u2019s Office, opening gelato shops on Long Island as an Amorino Franchisee, and becoming a lieutenant at the fire department, Patel somehow had a spare 30 minutes to talk about all the (very many) things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24483,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[495],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24483"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22089"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22262,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22089\/revisions\/22262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/khc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}