As a writer for Her Campus, it is so interesting to meet the other writers on the team and learn more about their personality and passions. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Carina Wang, a fellow writer and freshman at Boston University, double majoring in English and psychology and minoring in economics, on the pre-law track. She’s told me about her experience in yearbook and Her Campus and the beginning of her busy curriculum at BU.
You’ve told me you were on the yearbook staff in high school. How was it? What did you get from that experience?
When I first got into yearbook, I was not interested at all. At my high school, we have journalism classes (Journalistic Publications I and II) and both The Colonel, our online newsmagazine, and Horizons, our yearbook, were run by those classes. I had initially joined because I wanted to take more writing classes, and I quickly fell in love with journalism and moved up the ranks pretty fast too (I was Editor-in-Chief of The Colonel as a junior and in the second year I was involved with journalism).
That year, however, our yearbook Editor-in-Chief (Alex) was graduating and our journalism advisors had been subtly prepping me to take over the year after. Though I had learned to like yearbook, I still wasn’t really passionate about it. I really admired Alex though — she was smart, independent, and involved in everything — everything I aspired to be. So that year, she showed me the ropes and as I was assigned more and more events to photograph and features to write and spreads to design, I not only realized that I was actually having a lot of fun, but I also loved being able to focus on people from my school and getting so acquainted with them and their hobbies. I distinctly remember that I had to interview this one boy, who I had known from elementary school, about his high school wrestling career. I honestly had never given much thought to him, but the way he talked about wrestling was just heartwarming and I left with so much admiration and respect for him and his love of the game.
I worked on the yearbook staff as a writer, Assistant Editor, and Editor-in-Chief throughout my three years in the journalism program, and it has to be one of my fondest memories from high school. Not only did we have an amazing, fun environment, complete with the best teachers ever (shoutout to Ms. M and Ms. S!) and fun class activities like Foto Fridays and summer day trips to workshops in Manhattan, but I learned so much from it all. It was the first long-term commitment I had to an extracurricular, so it taught me time management and definitely helped foster some of my ambition. It was also super helpful in developing communication skills, marketing and sales abilities, interview abilities, and organization!
Do you have one fun or interesting memory of your time on the yearbook staff in high school that you would like to share?
So, during my senior year, we decided it would be our last year publishing through a certain yearbook company and that we wouldn’t sign the contract for renewal and work with a different company the year after instead. While I didn’t weigh in on the decision, it was very logical. Our representative from company A (the one we were leaving) rarely came to guide us in the process while our future company B representative was enthusiastic, excited, and willing to offer us many benefits, like presentations from her and even better cameras.
When our advisors broke the news to the rep from company A, he responded in a bit childish manner. He would ignore emails, act really weirdly, and he would completely avoid visiting our school under any circumstances. At one point he even said something along the lines of, “Darn, now I’ll have to cancel my Hulu subscription,” in an otherwise professional environment.
That year, we had a running joke that if the online design software was ever down or our shipment of yearbooks came in late, it’d be our favorite company A rep exacting vengeance on us.
What’s the difference between a high school yearbook and a college yearbook?
Most of the work for BU’s yearbook happens in the spring semester, so I really can’t say much yet. Some of the obvious are the size (and consequently how impossible it is to feature all the seniors), the ratio of words to photos (college yearbooks tend to be a lot more photo-heavy, while in high school we tried to have a feature for each spread), and just the nature of staff meetings. Because at my high school yearbook production happened in a class, communication was just so easy and we met way more often. Here, our staff meetings are every other week and it’s a lot harder to communicate and bounce ideas off of each other when it’s before/after a meeting.
What is one thing you love about your home state? And one thing you love about your new state?
My home state Connecticut has a lot of hidden gems, which I love! On the surface level, there doesn’t seem to be much, but there’s definitely more than meets the eye. In my general hometown area, for instance, there are multiple adorable ice cream shops (my favorite is Pop’s, which offers amazing farm views and hosts toy car races for toddlers) and a cider mill (B.F. Clyde’s) that’s the quintessential autumn destination.
As for Massachusetts, I don’t know what I can really say about the state in general, but I love Boston! I originally was going to go to NYU in Manhattan (I’m a city girl, if you can’t tell!) and I didn’t think that Boston could really rival NYC, but I’m definitely slowly changing my mind. They’re very similar cities, but Boston has more of a historical vibe to it (which I love) and it’s such a college town! I definitely get wrapped up in all the city has to offer and push my academics to the back burner sometimes, but I’m surrounded by diligent women and men repping their colleges, and seeing them really reminds me of why I’m here and gently nudges me to get crackin’.
What is it like doing a double major and a minor as a freshman? Why directed you to these subjects (English, psychology and economics)?
For the first part of the question, I really couldn’t tell you! It’s only first semester, so my classes are mostly introductory or ones that fulfill the Hub. I’m actually on a pre-law track, and I felt that the three subjects I chose would prepare me best. I’ve known I wanted to be an English major for some time now, and psych was just one of those classes that interested me so much.
Economics, in the eyes of my mom, is a “safe bet” because there a multitude of well-paying jobs that a concentration in econ can get you. I, personally, am taking it because I wanted a class that would push me to develop critical thinking skills and would prepare me for a future career in corporate law if I chose to pursue that.
What is your favorite course this semester and why?
I really like my Intro to Fiction class, taught by Professor Laura Korobkin, who has an impressive RateMyProfessor rating. Though you probably couldn’t tell from my quiet and tired presence in the 10:10 a.m. class, I really love everything Laura and the rest of the class says. We’re reading Jane Eyre right now (my favorite book out of both my English classes thus far), and it’s such a complex and multifaceted “struggle” throughout the novel, featuring major issues and complications like love, power, class, wealth, Providence, etc.
You’re a writer for Her Campus. Why did you start writing? What made you want to be a part of the organization? What has been your favorite thing about being a writer for Her Campus so far?
I think I started writing because I thought it was easy. Not to say that I don’t get writer’s block or struggle to draft essays, but it just all came very easily to me. I had always enjoyed writing, maybe because I’m much more eloquent and well-spoken in my writing than in person, but I learned in middle school that it wasn’t necessarily a common like and that some people really struggled. I didn’t, so I wrote more to kind of take advantage of it, and once I started writing, I just couldn’t stop. It didn’t even matter what I was writing. During my senior year of high school, I was the newsletter editor of my school’s chapter of the National Honor Society, and I never thought I’d enjoy writing newsletters but lo and behold!
Even as a middle and high school student, I’d stumble upon Her Campus articles, drawn in by the millennial pink and sold by the unique voice behind all the pieces. I wasn’t an avid reader, but unlike my peers, I knew it existed and occasionally perused the site. Before Splash, I didn’t know that I was interested in joining Her Campus. I had never been a part of anything like this, and I thought that an organization like the Daily Free Press was a lot more my speed. Despite this, I ventured to Her Campus’s table nonetheless, attracted by both the colorful vibes and the familiar face of Geneve Lau, my city excursions guide from summer orientation. The information they gave me piqued my interest, and so when applications rolled out, I filled mine out excitedly. The rest is history.
My favorite thing about being a writer for Her Campus is getting to meet and know inspiring, empowering, beautiful women and the friendly, social environment they crafted.
You said you’re an ENFP (Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perception). How does that show in your everyday life?
They say ENFPs are the least extroverted of all the extroverts, and that’s definitely accurate. I can be a bit of social butterfly, and I definitely feel happiest when surrounded by other people to strike up a conversation about, but I also act like a highkey introvert at times. I’m pretty warm and enthusiastic, I’d say, and I have good people and communication skills. I love being involved: other than Her Campus and BU Yearbook, I’m on the public relations committee for CAS Student Government (I specifically have a focus on graphic design) and I’m a member of CSA (Chinese Students Association).
My most ENFP moments are probably when I consistently sign up for events and activities that fill my planner and absolutely pack my schedule (and I’m weirdly ecstatic about it), when I impulsively decide to skip the dining hall and walk to Brighton for Bonchon instead, and when I start sobbing at a B- on my essay (both my inner perfectionist and my need to be constantly validated slithering out).
Thank you, Carina, for the interview, and we can’t wait to read your upcoming articles for HCBU!
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