Of the 45 AMSA alumni—now college students—who returned for the school’s “Back to the Future” event on Friday, Anagha Indic stood out. It was probably the smile so omnipresent during her high school days that hasn’t gone anywhere now that she’s a freshman at Georgia Tech.

When asked by a student reporter if the former co-editor of The AMSA Voice had a moment to speak afterward, at the expense of catching up with old friends, Anagha didn’t hesitate to respond with a cheery, “Of course!”

Despite the fact that she had never shared a class with the reporter, she instantly recognized her, knew she had a twin, that there was a common PE course with the sibling in there somewhere.

“[Anagha] is very mature,” science teacher Joe Bengiovanni said. “Beyond that, she’s trustworthy. If she tells you something, you can be pretty sure that’s the way it is. She isn’t going to sugar-coat anything.”

That seemed clear in the way that Anagha knew the names of most—if not all—of the people in the crowded room. It was one of the things that made her stand out at AMSA and her vibrant social life and skills made her a perfect choice to come back and give seniors practical advice about what to expect, and how to cope, when their college days begin in the fall.

“People say, once you leave AMSA you don’t want to come back, but that’s not necessarily true,” Anagha said. “I don’t mind coming back here because I still have teachers who I love visiting and want to see.”

Anagha was a committed member of the AMSA Speech and Debate team and served as co-captain her senior year, when she also served as co-editor of The AMSA Voice, positions that required constant social interaction.

In fact, Back to the Future was not the first time she had returned to campus to dispense advice since graduating. Anagha stopped by to sit in on a Speech and Debate team meeting to wish them good luck before a big competition this season.

When Anagha isn’t visiting old friends, she’s busy working in various engineering societies at Georgia Tech. Anagha is one of the few computer engineer majors at her college, a fact that baffles her after spending her formative years at the computer-science-loving AMSA.

“I’ve met three other computer engineers, maybe,” Anagha said with a laugh. “I don’t know where they all are, but they’re there, somewhere.”

Her decision to be a computer engineer wasn’t immediate. Anagha had an affinity for the sciences and tried her hand in each one, testing the waters to figure out what she wanted to do.

“I knew I wanted to do engineering,” she said. “In terms of deciding what kind, it was the classes.”

Her process was reminiscent of the old tale of Goldilocks and the three bears, testing each science until she found the one that was just right.

“I took biology, and I was like, this is fun—but it’s not for me,” Anagha said. “I took chemistry, I was thinking chemical engineering. Haha, no. I took [computer science] and I thought, Okay, I can work with this.”

Despite not being able to find many other people that share her major, Anagha has been able to branch out and find like minds in her other interests through clubs. Speech and debate was a love, and she sought ways she could apply her passion in college.

“I went and found [Georgia Tech’s] so-called ‘speech team.’ It’s just a bunch of kids who learn how to talk in front of people,” she said. “They don’t compete.”

Anagha wasn’t dissuaded, and eventually found a club that managed to combine all the aspects of speech that she loved: the Georgia Tech International Ambassadors (GTIA). It started as a way for Anagha to get out and socialize.

“One of my big concerns was figuring out what I wanted to do, in terms of getting out,” she said. “Going from a school with a population of 1,000 to 10,000 was a big change.”

GTIA is a part of the internal affairs committee at Georgia Tech, and she was required to write at a professional level, reach out to people, and talk with them. While Anagha isn’t competing in day-long events for the GTIA, she still enjoys the aspects that first drew her to speech and debate.

“I’m at least getting an opportunity to interact with people,” she said. “That’s something that I really want to do; that’s something that I care about.”

Anagha also landed a job at the Office of Admissions for Georgia Tech. She currently works on helping to review international applications, something that she says is always interesting because she “gets to see what all these kids are up to.”

Unfortunately, Anagha wasn’t able to continue her foray into journalism. She had maintained an interest in it, after working hard her senior year at AMSA, but was unable to continue in college.

“Our journalism is not that top-notch [at Georgia Tech],” she said.

Even though her days at AMSA are long gone, Anagha still uses the skills that she learned here, even ones that weren’t pertinent to her major. Anagha still applies journalism to her work in the GTIA.

“I definitely appreciate all the teachers who have done so much for me, even the humanities,” she said. “They’ve helped me significantly.”