Interview conducted by Grace Triantafyllos
12:41pm: It’s a mild and quiet afternoon on campus. I find Aanya hanging out with friends near the Hill building, and we sit down for our interview. I click record.
Grace: Hi! Okay, question one: What's something that you're passionate about?
Aanya: That's a good question…I'm really passionate about my friends, and I guess, like, the friendships that I have. I think, over the past four years, I've made some really, really valuable friendships. And I think I’ve found something unique about all of my friendships and something different that they all bring, especially my best friend, Sia. We've been best friends for, like, the past six or seven years. And I don't know, I think I've truly grown and learned a lot from her.
Grace: What's one of your favorite songs?
Aanya: Okay, so it's kind of funny, but my favorite movie ever, mostly because it's the movie that I'll always watch on the plane, is The Greatest Showman. I think it's, like, the best movie ever. And so I went through a phase—last year, I think—where [that was] all the music I was listening to. The soundtrack is the best. So yeah, that's just, like, my comfort movie, I think. And so with that, the songs. But other than that, I really like SZA. Obviously Taylor Swift. Yeah, I don't think I have a particularly favorite song.
Grace: What's one item on your bucket list?
Aanya: I don't know why, but the first thing that I thought of is, I remember there's that…it's like, you can go into one of those rooms and just break stuff in it. You know what I'm talking about, those, like, destroyer rooms? I don't know why. That just came to my mind. But I really want to do that. I feel like that would be really fun. A great way to just let everything out and just break stuff.
Grace: Yeah. That's awesome.
Aanya: Kind of weird, but yeah.
Grace: No, a little bit of catharsis! I love it.
Aanya: Yeah, exactly!
Grace: How have you changed during your time at College Prep?
Aanya: I think one of the things is definitely how much of a perfectionist I used to be. I think a lot of us [came] into CPS [as] overachievers, you know? And so I think that I've definitely learned it's okay to not always be good at everything. I think another thing is just, kind of going back to the friendships, just to like, really value and find things that you can appreciate in your friends and like, apply it, I guess, in my own life. I think I've really learned about the value of my friends because they've been there for me no matter what. So I think that just appreciating that earlier on rather than—like now I'm realizing that it's the last year, so I think just appreciating things a little bit more, for sure.
Grace: Final question: What's one of your favorite memories from your time at College Prep?
Aanya: Honestly, probably the circle at junior retreat. It was really cool because there were people that—I think I've talked to every single person in the grade before that, whether that be in class or just in passing or group projects or things, but I think that was the time that, like…I feel like everyone observes things about people, and I think that was the time that it really came out, and I think that really showed me that, I don't know, you absorb a lot of things about people and you appreciate a lot of things about people from afar. So when you actually talk to them about it and when you hear what they observed about you, you know, it's kind of sweet. It was just really sweet to see that our whole class has great things to say about each other. And it was just a really great community moment. I think that's something that I'm gonna remember forever. I thought it was a very sweet bonding, community moment.