Senior Spotlight: Gahana Dahiya
Senior Spotlight: Gahana Dahiya
Major: Business Information Technology
When her senior year of high school was cut short by the pandemic, Gahana Dahiya’s first year of college was not what she expected it to be. With mostly online classes and strict policies regarding on-campus activities, it was difficult for Gahana to get involved. For this reason, she was determined to get involved in activities to make the most of her final years at Virginia Tech. Collegiate Women in Business was one organization that appealed to her!
“I wanted to join CWIB because I really wanted to get connected with people within the college of business,” said Gahana. CWIB struck out to her because she wanted to work with amazing women who all had a passion for business.
During her first year as a member of Collegiate Women in Business, Gahana served as a technology assistant where she collaborated with the VP of Technology and the marketing committee to maintain CWIB’s online presence. Gahana helped to maintain the CWIB website and spread awareness for CWIB around campus.
Following her role as the technology assistant, Gahana continued to grow within CWIB becoming the VP of Technology for her third and final year as a Hokie. In her position, Gahana oversees the CWIB website and also sends the weekly newsletters for the organization.
In addition to her leadership experience, Gahana feels that simply being a CWIB member has gotten her numerous opportunities including getting an internship. “I definitely took advantage of a lot of the events that we hosted last year while I was looking for internships. From these events, I was able to gain new skills like interview skills, resume tips or networking,” exclaimed Gahana.
Along with helping her secure an internship, Gahana feels that CWIB has helped prepare her post-graduation as well. She stated, “All of these skills CWIB taught me gave me the confidence and the ability to be comfortable in conversations with professionals.”
After graduation, Gahana will be accepting a full time position with Fannie Mae where she worked last summer as a business architect intern. “I would say that my major has served me pretty well so far in terms of plans after graduation because I get both the technical side and the business side. I was able to use both of those skills throughout my internship last summer and that really impressed the staff at Fanny Mae and made them want to call me back, so I am glad that it all worked out in the end.”
As she looks back on her college years, Gahana’s advice to incoming freshman would be “going for opportunities outside of your comfort zone even if you think you’re not qualified or if you’re scared to go for it, I would definitely say just take the leap of faith and go for it.”
By Katie Smith
