Senior Spotlight: December 2011
Golmah Zarinkhou
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Our Co-Chair of the Alumni Relations Committee loves reading, writing poetry and fiction, participating in Harry Potter debates, and collecting stickers--especially the sparkly ones! She hopes to one day find the real-life equivalent of Sheldon Cooper, her most adored character on television. When she's not doing Mortar Board activities or cramming for finals in her giraffe-print blanket, she acts as a writer for the Daily Bruin, a volunteer for the UCLA School of Dentistry, a Service Learning Student for Westwood Horizons, and has held various officer positions for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She's also a part of the Premed American Medical Student Association and the Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority. Please continue reading as we turn the spotlight on Golmah!
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Describe your personality in three words:
Wistful. Simplistically complex.
What is your best quality? Give an experience when you have put this quality to use.
I’m highly logical. This mainly means I strive to look beyond the surface. But this quality also came in handy when I had to find my way out of a complicated maze of hay.
What are your interests?
Mainly human healing and creative writing. The two work brilliantly both together and separately. Writing heals the soul, medical journals teach applied healing, and many writers and doctors revolutionize the very workings of the world.
What do you like about UCLA?
The unending number of options and opportunities on this campus continue to amaze, daunt, and inspire me. As a freshman, I could barely fathom how to make use of the suddenly numerous resources at my fingertips. But these possibilities led me to writing and reporting for the Daily Bruin, conducting research in a neurosurgery lab, and attaining knowledge of the most foreign land known to man –the past— as a history major. The variety still stuns me.
What is one thing you would like to change at UCLA?
I would like for live squirrels to stop popping out of trashcans. Maybe.
What has been your biggest learning experience?
The long nights of studying have taught me the most—not necessarily because of the information I was stuffing into my brain, but because of the gained insight into myself. Wrapped in a giraffe-print blanket and typing away furiously on my keyboard or calculator, I learned to trust that my natural dedication can get me through anything.
Name two movies you could watch over and over again? Why?
1. The 1995 BBC adaption of Pride and Prejudice because it’s five hours of pure Austen.
2. Tangled because it taught me that every girl should know how to wield a frying pan.
What is your favorite book and why?
The Harry Potter series has tied with Pride and Prejudice for as long as I can remember. I started reading them in the first grade, and their unique insight into societal values and issues can still make me think. Also, Severus Snape and Fitzwilliam Darcy make pretty unusual, but therefore amazing literary heroes. There may be better books out there, but for me, childhood ties to things usually feel strongest.
If you could go anywhere in the world for a day where would you go and why?
Ireland. It’s so green. And full of history.
What career would you like to pursue after graduation? Why?
I’m still a junior, so I am currently trying to decide between medicine and dentistry. At the same time, I know I’m going to continue writing in any way I can. I want to keep busy with the interests I already said motivate and inspire me: writing and healing.
What characteristics does it take to become a great leader?
The same characteristics I imagine necessary to be a great parent: whole-hearted belief in your goals, empathetic compassion, iron backbone, sharp logic, verbal clarity, open-minded determination, and a pinch of powdery luck.
Name one person you admire? Why?
JK Rowling. She created a world existing within our own that lives by its own fantastical rules. This world took the bud of love I had for reading as a child and made it blossom. Nothing has served me better in life, education, and self-cultivation than my love for reading and writing of all forms. I am awed by Rowling’s powerful influence over young minds.
Who has been your most influential professor and why?
Every professor has left me with something valuably new. To choose one at this point would feel like a snub to all the rest.
Which is the one television character that you simply adore?
Theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper makes my heart swing. Get it?
What are the three most played songs on your iPod?
How to Save a Life by The Fray
Can’t Help Falling in Love with You—The Andrea Bocelli and Catherine McPhee duet version of the original Elvis Presley song
Soltan-e-Ghalbha (King of Hearts)—A Persian classic by Aref that my dad taught and sang to me as a child.
If given a choice, which animal would you want to be and why?
I want to be a hummingbird. Because they have wings you can’t always see.
Have you traveled outside of the United States? If so, where?
Most recently and memorably, I visited Israel with Taglit-Birthright Israel. Climbing Masada before sunrise, floating and rafting in the Jordan River, riding camels, bobbing in the salty Dead Sea, and socializing with Israeli soldiers encompass just a few of my trip highlights. As for other travels: I was born in Iran, traveled to Austria as a toddler on my way to New Jersey, and visited Canada a few years ago. Through all of this, I realized how necessary traveling is for the soul, and I’m eager for more.
What is the funniest prank played by you or on you?
I haven’t put effort into any complex pranks, but I once told a high school friend she was going to have a nonexistent final exam in 15 minutes. I think I stopped and started her heart in less than a quarter hour. It was both sad and highly amusing.
What does being a member of Mortar Board mean to you?
It means I must keep my standards, chin, and arms high. Even when it hurts.
