The first time Sarika Agrawal (MSB'06) officially stepped onto Georgetown's historic Gaston Hall stage was October of her sophomore year. A bio-chemistry major at the time, it was Agrawal's second year as a member of the Georgetown University Lecture Fund, a student-run, non-partisan organization that seeks to bring the Georgetown community together and promote dialogue on social, political and cultural issues of the day. Agrawal was there to introduce Michael Moore, author and Academy Award winning director of "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11" before an audience of 500 students and members of the Georgetown community.
Her first major event, Agrawal likens the job of organizing, planning and managing the speech to being tossed into a whirlpool with no way to get out. Although she admits that the experience was challenging, she says it taught her lessons she will never forget.
"I think I learned more that semester about everything," she says. "Not just putting on events but figuring out how to deal with all of these different people -- everyone wanting different things and how to deal with everyone's needs."
The ability to work with different and sometimes conflicting agendas is what distinguishes Agrawal, who now serves as chair of the Lecture Fund, says Chin-Hao Huang (SFS'06), the group's vice chair of internal affairs.
"We'd always discuss issues at great lengths and make sure everyone is comfortable before making a final decision," he says. "There were a couple of times where the leadership team had different opinions but in the end we pulled through. She's very diplomatic."
Not only does the Fund have to consider the opinions of internal members of the group, but they must also take into account the reaction of the greater Georgetown community.
Erika Cohen-Derr, director of orientation and leadership in the Division of Student Affairs and a former advisor for Lecture Fund, notes that the group is responsible for making decisions to bring controversial speakers to campus and is held accountable to myriad campus reactions. She says the ability to listen and moderate has helped Agrawal navigate the group through challenges.
"There's never a topic she doesn't tackle," Cohen-Derr says. "She never shuts down conversations and always gives people a chance to air their views and have important dialogue within their group as well as figure out how to challenge the university community to come out and attend an event."
Taking on any task is characteristic of Agrawal's personality. After her sophomore year, she approached the McDonough School of Business about transferring into their undergraduate program. Assistant Dean Emily Zenick met with Agrawal and explained the requirements she needed to fulfill in order to go from her bio-chemistry major to a double major in finance and international business. It was a tall order, but Zenick says she had no doubts Agrawal was up for the challenge.
"She not only took classes over the summer to prepare but also managed to do a semester study abroad program at the University of New South Wales in Australia," Zenick says. "She's one of those students who has a lot of goals and fit them all in."
Agrawal says part of the reason she added a business foundation to her pre-med background stemmed from her involvement in helping start two student groups dealing with the issue of HIV/AIDS. She realized her freshman year that there was not a student organization on campus to deal with education and awareness of the HIV/AIDS issues, so she worked with Student Affairs to create one, and the Georgetown University AIDS Coalition was born.
Soon after that, Agrawal collaborated with student leaders at neighboring schools including Howard, Towson, George Mason and George Washington Universities to establish Project Unite, an organization that coordinates student efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
"Everything was so scattered and there was no capability for planning and consolidating ideas," she says. "We thought if we were able to pull together and say, 'this is what we want to achieve during the coming year,' and have four or five schools pulling in the same direction, we would be that much more powerful."
Agrawal emphasizes that what drives her to continue dedicating time and energy to several organizations is the people she works with. Reminiscing about the first time she visited Georgetown she says it was the warm, close-knit atmosphere that stood out to her. She realizes those same connections have defined her experience during the past four years.
"I think that's something that I saw at the beginning [of college] and I think that's something I see now," she says. "Just looking at Lecture Fund as a microcosm of Georgetown you have this culture in every organization that brings that group together and you become more of a family than you do professionals."
That family has also taught Agrawal that the path through life does not have to be straight and narrow, but rather zigzag through different experiences. Although she may not know exactly what she'll be doing five years from now, she's sure whatever it is will be a success.
"I feel like I became myself here," she says. "This is where I figured out I like myself. I'm happy with that. It [Georgetown] gave me that. It gave me the confidence to do what I want."
After taking the MCATs in the fall, Agrawal will return to her hometown just outside of Los Angeles, California and spend time shadowing physicians. After that she hopes to travel to an HIV/AIDS clinic in Africa and explore the field of international development.
"I feel like for myself I need to be part of something larger," she says. "The big thing for me is having something that I'm working towards and feeling like I'm doing something good."
