It was hot and sweltering August day in 2014 when I met Sahithy Oruganti, a current freshman at the Lyman Briggs College. Alone and scared, I awkwardly stood against the brick wall of my new middle school, waiting to be paired with a returning student that would show the ropes of this unfamiliar institution. As I met Sahithy, I was greeted with an odd rush of confidence that her friendship, much like her heart, would be golden and last further than the days of seventh grade. To this day, I consider her to be one of the most genuine, down to earth individuals that I have crossed paths with. A budding content creator, I chatted with her through a call and discussed with her our college and aspirations.
What propelled your interest for the sciences*? (*sciences is variable I can change it to anything specific within the field)
“I have a big interest in science, and that was the sole determinant in choosing neuroscience as my major at Lyman Briggs. When I was younger, I was definitely more invested in my big dreams to become an astronaut or the CEO of my own company. But it was high school when I really fell in love with the concept of observing, quantifying, and turning the unknown into the known. When I volunteered in high school and taught children and families about the history and future of science, I became very passionate and interested in the field. Additionally, I became super curious myself about the science behind every concept imaginable!”
What do you hope to gain out of the Lyman Briggs Program?
“Through the Lyman Briggs Program, I hope to develop a deeper understanding of the core and upper level science courses I take for my undergraduate degree. Lyman Briggs is a community of science-driven individuals who have varying thought processes and mindsets. I really hope to make some lasting connections and friendships through this program while receiving instruction from professors and classes that can help me reach my full potential.”
You mentioned earlier that you had a podcast. Do you co-host with anyone and how did the idea to create content come about?
“So my really good friend (Yurui Zhang, Class of 2024 at Johns Hopkins University) and I started our podcast “Introspects Podcast” during quarantine in fall of 2020. I suggested that we start a channel just for fun and talk about whatever came to our mind. She added that we discuss the things we usually talk about but more in depth. And voila! We started a podcast where we talk about things in our lives!”
What is the niche of your podcast?
“Our channel’s catchphrase is, “Two angsty teenagers talk about things they are not qualified to talk about.” Our topics of discussion range from trying to tackle what defines us to procrastination, to effort in our daily friendships. We have really deep discussion but also include light hearted ones as well! We hope that through our platform, we can talk about things that appear in our daily lives or things in our society that influence us and other teens. Honestly, it’s designed so that anybody can relate and see our perspective on these influential factors and compare them to how they handle it themselves.”
Do you have any long term goals in terms of content creating?
“Our goal is to build a community of individuals who can kind of share their varying aspects of the teen years and compare them to our own lives. We hope to further increase our Youtube podcast community, release more more interesting episodes and potentially get on Spotify as well! As for how long and far our content creation will run , probably until the day either of us run out of ideas about our lives which is a loooong time!”