Hi everyone! I'm Yehalah and I'm a '26 coming all the way from Colombo, Sri Lanka. My academic passions lie in Energy Engineering and Environmental Studies. I am a first-generation and low-income student, actively involved with the community. I love to paint and read during my free time. I'm excited that you're here, and I hope you enjoy this account of my life at Dartmouth!
Taking an art class has long been a dream of mine. Drawing 1 with Professor Enrico Riley exceeded my expectations greatly! He is an inspiring instructor who allowed us creative freedom, while guiding us in the right direction. We drew in different forms of charcoal, with colour introduced towards the end of the term. I loved my experience and I cannot wait to take another Studio Art class!
The sequel to Drawing 1 with Professor Enrico Riley! We worked in oil paint, which I was completely new to and admittedly afraid to use. I ended up falling in love with the medium and the flexibility it gave me to adjust and refine my paintings at any point in the process. I am sad to finish this class and I hope I get to take another Studio Art class in the future!
Moving to America was a drastic adjustment, especially considering the difference in perception of race and ethnicity. This class gave me a insight into past and current American oppression against Black and Indigenous communities. I loved how much I learnt through this class, which was also my First Year Seminar requirement.
My first language class at Dartmouth! Taking German was intimidating, especially because of the fast-paced and rigorous learning method that Dartmouth uses. It was so interesting to learn the different grammar and rules used in the German language. I cannot wait to use my Beginner German skills in Berlin next Spring!
The Sacred Architecture of Asia is one of the most incredible courses I have taken at Dartmouth! The course is primarily discussion-based, with Professor Seher explaining and initiating conversation about the course material. The material assigned was incredibly inspiring and taught me so much about South Asian religions and their beginnings. Everywhere I travel now, I think about the lessons I have learnt in this class and I am truly grateful to Professor Seher for facilitating an incredible learning experience!
Learning about German history in Berlin was a great way to explore the city and culture! The class had weekly excursions where we visited important sites in Berlin, which was so informative and helpful. Overall, I learnt so many new aspects of Germany and the people who played a significant role in German history.
SummerPerrysburg, Ohio
Interning at First Solar, a solar panel manufacturing company! I work on the Application Engineering team under Product Management, developing ways to better serve our clients and enhance our products. It has been an amazing experience so far, I have learnt so much and I am so grateful for this opportunity!
One of the required courses for the Engineering major is ENGS 23—which is all about modeling distributed systems. This is the subsequent class to ENGS 22, where we model lumped systems. This course is a lot of heavy material and requires you to pay careful attention throughout class. It also demands a lot of work outside of class hours to fully understand the material. There is a lab component that can take up to 3 hours once a week. I've been enjoying the material we learn in class, but it is easily my most challenging course this term.
Another core but not required engineering course where we build bridges! This course drives rigid body statics and common loading cases; this includes concepts like stress, strain, bending, and torsion. The most exciting part of this class is that we get to build bridges as a group! There is a bridge competition at the end of the class where each group will get their bridge tested under a load. I am so excited about this class and the opportunity to learn the software SOLIDWORKS!
Every term, I try to explore my interests outside of engineering, such as art forms. Cross-listed under music, comparative literature, and film, this 200-student class explores themes of video games and their implementation in real life. I have learned so much just from four weeks in this class. We delve deep into readings each week and analyze issues with the gaming industry and how people perceive video games. Listening to game music and learning about its components is also a large part of the class. Every week, in groups, we Twitch stream a few hours of gaming! These few weeks, we have been playing Undertale. Having no gaming experience, I learned a lot and had an exciting few weeks!
The moment we accidentally destroyed Goat Mom in Undertale
After being away from Dartmouth for six months, I am so excited to be back and learning new things this term!
Every Dartmouth student is required to demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. Here's my experience navigating the language requirement!
Unlike some other universities, many of the STEM lecture classes at Dartmouth require concurrent enrollment in a laboratory section. What is it like navigating that time as a student?
