Name: Permveer Longia
Major: Neuroscience and Philosophy with a minor in chemistry
Year: Senior
Her Campus: What on-campus activities are you involved in?
Permveer: I am the president of the South Asian Student Association, a member of the Blue and Gold Society, a brother of Beta Theta Phi, an intern for the Homeless Children Education Fund, on the recruitment committee for Pitt Healing Notes, a Big Brother/Big Sisters mentor, and an ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) legal observer.
HC: Wow, that’s a lot of activities! Which is your favorite and why?
Permveer: I can’t pick a favorite because everything I do is meaningful to me in different ways; it’s like comparing apples and oranges. It’s like choosing between children. They all represent a part of who I am in some way and my values. (I asked him for 10 minutes and he still could not give me an answer).
HC: Now that you are a senior, what do you hope to accomplish in your last year at Pitt?
Permveer: I want to be able to say that I made lasting positive impacts in as many ways as possible. I have changed a lot since freshman year. One of the most important things I have realized since then is that I wasn’t questioning my intentions and my actions in the beginning. I was doing things just to do them without too much thought behind the decisions I made. I wasn’t thinking about whether or not the things I was doing were actually affecting anything. There are so many things we are encouraged to do that don’t have any depth or meaning. I had a bit of a late start with what some may call merely resume builders because I only came to the previously mentioned conclusion before junior year. And I won’t be able to shake things up and change them in the way, say, SGB board members can. However, I hope to at least impart what I’ve learned from my mistakes to those who will take the reins of said organizations after I leave. I do hold all of the relationships in my life to a very high regard. I want to make all the interactions with the people in my life as memorable and full as possible. A lot of this task lies in passing what I know about school, leadership, organizations, and life on to those younger than me. Some of it involves talking to all of my mentors and friends and making sure they know they are appreciated. In order to have closure, there is a lot of stuff I have to do in order to prove to myself that I truly took advantage of everything I won’t be able to do after college.
HC: I know you are a pretty well-informed guy—anything in the news you’ve been following in particular?
Permveer: It has been hard to follow the news lately because the weeks leading up to school were very busy for me. The one thing that did capture my interest was what was going on in Ferguson. There are so many things we have to talk about as a society so we can reach a real understanding of these types of issues. There are so many issues brought to the surface by one event, and it can be hard to ask people for their patience as you try to isolate and address every issue independently. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy way to simplify such pressing issues in our society, and it makes you feel helpless because so much needs to be changed. It’s overwhelming. I’ve followed it closely because everyone has something to say about this, which means that I get to learn a lot from a variety of perspectives. A lot of stories are shared, and the power of the narrative is what we need to make headway on these types of issues so things like this don’t happen again. It is a topic that can really grasp you emotionally and intellectually, so I don’t find it to be a sacrifice when I go online to read all of the latest articles, blog posts, etc. about Ferguson.
HC: So Perm, what do you like to do in your spare time?
Permveer: I like too many things to count. I’m a naturally curious person and I have dabbled in almost everything at some point in time. If I haven’t tried something, I’ve at least read a good bit about it. If I encounter something I haven’t heard about, I’ll usually read at least a little bit about it by the end of the week and add it to my bucket list. Basically, there are so many things I want to do, but there isn’t much I actually get to do given how little free time I’ve had lately. When I do have free time I try to tackle as many of my interests as I can. I absolutely love to read. My booklist is enormous, so big that I don’t think I’ll finish it in my lifetime. I love movies too, but I get pickier as time goes on because my tastes are always changing based on what I’ve watched. I’ve dabbled in painting and drawing. I have some art projects that I have yet to finish and even more that I plan on doing. I used to play the violin but I rarely get to pull that out anymore. I think my favorite thing to do right now, given the craziness of college and life, is spending time with close friends. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner is almost always with someone else. I try to grab coffee with as many people as I can because good conversation is therapy that I can’t get from many other places. I want to share my spare time because my friends here in Pittsburgh have added so much fun, love, meaning, laughter, and value to my life.
Photo provided by Campus Celeb.