Zoya Chhabra is a somewhat of a celebrity on the web among UCLA students. She rose to fame this summer by answering many first year students’ questions on Facebook, always offering a suggestion to a lost new student. Not only has she proven herself to be helpful, but she is also involved in many other organizations to better the student community.
Major: Astrophysics. Potential minor in science education.
Year: 2nd
What programs are you involved with on campus?
Director of Marketing and Operations for Indus at UCLA, a pan South Asian organization; Director of Programming for the office of General Representative 3 (Fabienne Roth); and a staff member for the state affairs committee in the office of the External Vice President (Conrad Contreras) in USAC.
What are you passionate about?I love to learn. As clichéd as that sounds, my biggest fear is to be called ignorant, so I try my best to read up on everything from astronomy to politics to economics to philosophy. With that said, I am also extremely passionate about equality of opportunity. As a female astrophysics major, I am very conscious of the skewed sex ratio in the STEM fields. As a UCLA student, I am conscious of the millions of students worldwide that don’t have access to an education like mine. Therefore, I want to use science as a tool to empower people worldwide in order to lift themselves from situations of inequality.
What is one defining characteristic of yourself?I think my Harry Potter obsession is something that everyone knows about. I am probably the biggest Harry Potter fan you will ever see, and the books have become a lens through which I see the world. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I console myself with the thought that at least I don’t have a noseless evil wizard chasing me across the continent. I often quote Harry Potter in the middle of my conversations. My favorite one is “it is the unknown we fear when we look upon death or darkness, nothing more.
Can you describe the strangest thing you’ve witnessed on campus?Hands down, the strangest part about UCLA is that Boelter Hall, which was the birthplace of the internet, has the worst wifi signal ever. It’s very ironic, and even more frustrating.
What was the best piece of advice you have received that you’d want to pass on to First Years? A friend of mine who attended Cal State Northridge told me to go into college with no preconceived notions or expectations, and to take things as they came. I took that advice, and all of a sudden I found myself interacting with people I had never expected to meet. UCLA has one of the most diverse student bodies in the world, and just by shedding my judgment and being open to new things, I was able to broaden my horizons more than I expected. So my advice to first years is that they should welcome everything that UCLA has to offer with open arms and minimal judgment.
What is your guilty pleasure? CHEESE. In any form.