Khan

NORTH ATTLEBORO —Anupama Q. Khan loves watching old French movies.

And even if she doesn’t understand everything, she doesn’t turn on the subtitles because she just loves listening to the language.

Few people know this quirky little fact about her, says the 18-year-old valedictorian of North Attleboro High School.

Perhaps, they are more likely to know the motivated, hard-working straight-A student in her — the one who believes that being first in class simply involves planning, being organized and setting aside time for different activities.

Easier said than done, many would say.

But not Khan, who comes from a tightly knit, academic Bangladeshi family whose philosophy, is: It’s school, just do well.

“We do school,” she emphasizes.

Throughout her life she has had numerous role models who’ve proved that. Her father, Quaiyum Khan, is a consultant; her mother, Naseem L. Khan, used to be a banker. Her older brother studies biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In keeping with the family tradition of taking school seriously, Khan applied to such schools as Brown, Columbia and Princeton — getting accepted to all three. She will attend Princeton this fall, where she hopes to major in chemistry and economics — two very distinct fields that she hopes will open up a vast array of career options for her in the future. She might even try to find a way to integrate the two, she says.

But whatever she decides to do, Khan says she would like to do public service. She volunteered at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston last summer and realized the value of helping others.

“It’s the nicest feeling,” she says.

At school too, Khan kept busy. She participated in the science fair every year, volunteered, tutored her peers, ran the school’s chapter of Model United Nations, served as editor-in-chief of its literary magazine, Galadriel, and wrote a column for the local newspaper. Since last summer she has also worked part time at a flower store.

When talking to Khan about the past four years of her life, one might start to think she is all about work, about school, school and more school.

But her closest friends disagree.

Ashley E. Plante, one of her best friends since sixth grade, says Khan does not stand out just because of her tremendous dedication to academics.

She does so through her “big personality.”

Known to her friends as “Anu,” Khan lets loose once outside school, Plante says.

She hangs out with friends, goes out to eat, goes to concerts and watches movies. She’s laid back. She tells jokes. And occasionally she pretends to have a British accent, much to her friends’ amusement.

“You wouldn’t be able to tell she’s so hardcore about school,” Plante says. “I’ll miss her.”

njayakri@projo.com