Junior Dahlia Paul is entering her first year on Aquila. Paul initially joined because of her interest in Aquila’s newsmagazines and heard that journalism was an interesting course. Through journalism, Paul hopes to bring more awareness about mental health and correct misconceptions like that OCD is only perfectionism or treating depression as a joke. And while she has no clear plans in the future besides being on track with college and living independently, Paul has set her heart on living in a big city like Seattle, New York City or simply staying in California. Wherever she ends up, Paul wants to surround herself with people who are friendly and have loads of energy. Another characteristic she values is kindness and therefore resonates with the well-known golden rule, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” She has played the piano since the age of five, but quit classes at the start of the pandemic. While she had been planning to quit since she had outgrown the need for teaching, the dangers of COVID-19 signaled to Paul it was the right time to stop. Now, she plays for fun instead of performing. In her free time, Paul consumes a lot of media in the forms of video games like Genshin Impact, Identity V, Phasmophobia, as well as anime and TV dramas in any language. This, and the convenience of knowledge, prompted her desire to learn more languages, her three favorite being Hindi, Japanese and Mandarin—though she has not started learning them yet. The best advice Paul has ever received mimics the well recognized Nike slogan. If she is ever scared to try anything, Paul remembers to not think too much and “Just Do It.”