Anchita Khurana is not only a Boston University freshman studying business and English, but she is also a writer in and outside of Her Campus. As a student living in the BU Writer’s Corridor in Kilachand Hall, she is always working to improve her craft. But Anchita’s amazingness doesn’t stop there – she’s also really involved on campus and is even trying to start a new student organization! Recently, I met up with Anchita and asked her a few burning questions…
Why BU?
It’s in the city, which means that there are a lot of opportunities here. I’ve already found that there’s so much you can do by just being in the city. I can go to different events and meet different people – very accomplished people – just because I’m in the city. It’s easy to travel and it’s easy to see the bigger picture versus going to a school that’s kind of isolated.
Credit: Anchita Khurana
Besides Her Campus at BU, what other clubs/activities are you a part of?
I’m working for Clarion reading submissions – it’s fun reading other people’s stuff. I’m in another literary magazine and we’re trying to revive one of Boston University’s really old literary magazines. It was going strong for about 130 years and then it just suddenly disappeared. I’m also in a dean’s fellowship for social impact. I’m in After School, which I found out about during FYSOP. So, I go every week to work with kids with science for an hour.
I’m also trying to start a student organization – I’m working with the Community Service Center to develop “Olympism for Humanity Alliance.” It’s centered around this topic of Olympism, which is basically how in ancient Greece when the Olympic occurred they did not just affect the area financially, but also in terms of the values that it gave to everyone – the sense of community. Lately, the Olympics have been devastating to the areas that they happen in, especially to lower class people.
The academic concept is Olympism and how we should try to implement it in our daily lives. In terms of a club, it would be something based around volunteering around this community and looking at what we can do as individuals and as a community to help. You would pick what you’re passionate about – for one person it could be education, for another person it could be environmental impact. You would get some volunteer hours in and then you would develop a theory around it; this factor in this section of Boston – what does it need? What does it have? And how can we help?
Why are you studying business?
For me, business means money but it also means having an impact on people. I feel like business is a great way to do that because you can do something that’s innovative and that helps people’s lifestyles while also being environmentally conscious, which I think is extremely important. For me, with business, I want to influence people through creativity and innovation, trying to promote healthy lifestyles and environmental consciousness.
Why did you join Her Campus?
In high school, I wasn’t that big of an activist. I just felt like my school’s atmosphere didn’t really allow for that much activism because we were extremely competitive. We never had anything like a feminist club. So, when I came here, I felt like I needed to be more feminist and needed to focus more on this kind of stuff. I like to write, so it’s a way for me to be creative but also get a lot of my opinions across in a way that’s… well, we publish every week so it’s often and it’s professional.
You live in the Writer’s Corridor, right? What’s that like?
It’s about 15 people and we live on the fourth floor in Kilachand. We’re people who wanted to be in this specialty housing and we wanted to be in an environment with writers around us. This year, we have a faculty in residence who’s very committed to the Writer’s Corridor and is just extremely welcoming. At least once a week, he has an event. We’re thinking of reviving the magazine that the Writer’s Corridor used to publish.
So far, we’ve just been getting together and writing little snippets of stuff. The faculty in residence, Professor Vu, gives us prompts and we write based on those – it’s very chill but it’s also something that I think is very good for me. Typically, when I write, I’ve been focused on big projects. So, to have someone allow me to branch out without any long-term commitment is good for me. I didn’t want to go to college and stop writing – I wanted a way to integrate it even if it’s just a little bit.
Why do you love writing?
I’ve heard a lot of people say they don’t like writing – they like what happens after you write, so what your result is. For me, I wouldn’t say that. I do enjoy the result and I do find writing kind of torturous at times, but I’ve come to a point where the process is very important for me – being able to type something out and create something.
Sometimes you write for a plot. Sometimes you write for the writing. For me, sometimes I write for this feeling. If I have a certain feeling in mind, I want to be able to describe it in words somehow. It’s very fun. The reason I will never take writing classes is that my favorite part of writing is self-improving with every single thing. Every time I write something, I’m teaching myself something new. I’m improving it from the last time. I grow constantly and the more I write, the more I grow.
Anchita’s passion for helping the world is clear in everything she does, even her writing – that’s why she joined Her Campus after all! Read her articles and learn more about her here.
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