Alumnus remembers lessons as SHS leader

As the ASB president, opinion section editor for The Falcon and a manager for the marching band, 2012 alumnus Anshu Siripurapu was a key leader on campus.

Most notably, as ASB president, Siripurapu said that he learned management through his experience in overseeing all commissions and activities within the student government.

When he began attending the University of Southern California after graduation, he continued to get involved with campus affairs at the university.

Siripurapu originally started college as a pre-med major, with an interest in health policy, since he planned to become a physician. But as he became involved with USC’s student newspaper, The Daily Trojan, his interests shifted and he graduated in 2016 with a degree in political economy.

He said that because the Trojan was a non-credit activity, the staff of was made up of a diverse group of majors who wrote for the publication out of genuine interest. In his senior year, Siripurapu became editor-in-chief of the Daily Trojan, overseeing a century-old paper with thousands of issues in circulation at any given time that also, as its name suggests, releases issues on a daily basis. This experience, Siripurapu said, solidified his interest in a career in journalism.

“My experience as ASB president in high school definitely helped me as the editor of The Trojan,” Siripurapu said. “It wasn’t the exact same situation, but it definitely helped to have experience in management when I was overseeing the various sections of The Trojan.”

Siripurapu said that journalism specifically appealed to him for a number of reasons.

“My reasons for going into journalism are best captured by an essay I read a few months ago written by the editor of Politico, John Harris, and one of the things he talked about was how journalism was the perfect combination of a number of different fields,” Siripurapu said. “You have the "life of the mind" aspect of academia but you're still close to the action. It's a [form of] public service, but you don't have to sacrifice your life the way politicians do. So that resonated with me. I think I'm an intellectual person but not an academic, and I've always been attracted to service-oriented professions.”

After graduation, Siripurapu interned for The Sacramento Bee for a summer, covering everything from childhood vaccine laws to affordable housing legislation. He is currently taking some time off to travel and spend time with family as he works toward securing a job in journalism.

Though he is sure that he will stay in journalism for at least a few years, Siripurapu said that he has thought about eventually applying to law school. Still, he feels that having work experience beforehand would be valuable.

Siripurapu said that through his experiences, he has learned that what many people may think of as “strong leadership” is not necessarily the best way to lead.

“A lot of people think that a strong leader has to be a dominator and always get their way, but in my experience a leader is only as strong as their team,” Siripurapu said. “As a good leader, you can’t try to take all the credit, but you do have to take all the blame.”

As he settles into pursuing his career as a journalist, Siripurapu said that he knows he has chosen a good path for himself.

“Journalism is something that I do see myself in for at least the next several years,” Siripurapu said. “We’re living in exciting times, and I wouldn’t want to miss out on the chance to cover everything going on right now.”