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 sustainability. 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!
Solid mechanics is a class all about stress, strain and structure. My favorite part about this class was getting to design, 3D model and construct a wooden bridge from scratch! Using SOLIDWORKS to perform FEA analysis and a laser-cutting machine, my group and I put together a model bridge that held four times more that the desired weight! It was an awesome experience to put our classroom theory into practice. This has been the most exciting engineering class I have taken so far!
Taken for my language requirement, this class involved translating multiple documents from my native language (Sinhala) to English! I loved getting to know more about ancient texts in Sri Lanka, and finding out about words I had no idea existed. My final project was translating some scenes from the movie Gamperaliya (ගම්පෙරළිය), analyzing the language forms, and presenting them to the class!
Focused on Computer-Aided Design (CAD), this class took me from a beginner in SOLIDWORKS to passing the SOLIDWORKS Certified Associate test with a perfect score! We learnt about master modelling, kinematics and how to think about mechanical design. For our final project of making a walking dinosaur, I designed a pterodactyl!
I had the best time exploring art history in the center of the (European) art world: Paris! For 3 weeks, I bounced between Parisian museums such as the Louvre, Musée Condé, Musée d'Orsay, Palace of Versailles, and many more. For our final paper, I picked Imaginary View of the Grande Gallery in the Louvre in Ruins by Hubert Robert, with which I spent hours looking at, in an attempt to decipher its meaning and intent! I cannot emphasize how much I learnt about art history through this program and the guidance of Professor Katie Hornstein.
There is no such thing as the same day at Dartmouth. Senior spring is here and it is surreal to reflect on how much my daily routine has evolved over four years. Being someone who is acutely aware of my academic capabilities, each of my terms have been 3-course terms, and never 3 STEM courses. In that way, I mostly find myself with two STEM courses, possibly including a lab, and a humanities class that allows me to scour the library for physical sources. I like to think that this consistency in my course choices allows me to accurately predict how my Dartmouth terms look like, and for the most part, it does well in predicting my time commitments. However, I never really know how my term will go until I am in it. This is both a conundrum and privilege at the same time. How wonderful it is to go into the unknown and make any term what you want it to be.
As a first-year student, my daily routine was mostly attending classes, spending time with my friends at the First Generation Office, and going on every excursion offered by the college. I was intensely curious about life at Dartmouth and wanted to make each day memorable. It was a lovely conglomeration of finding community, spaces I loved, and figuring out what made me feel the most fulfilled.
My first-year fall at the Bonfire!
It took me a long time to understand that I did not have to participate in and excel in everything that Dartmouth offered. In all honesty, it took me until my junior fall term to truly find my footing at Dartmouth. That term I became confident in my abilities, enjoyed almost every day and felt immensely fulfilled with my time. Each student's Dartmouth journey looks different and in my experience, it takes time, and that was totally okay.
As a senior approaching my last few weeks as a Dartmouth undergraduate, I truly feel at home. My days are different when I choose them to be different, and similar when I need some regularity. I have ventured out to explore a 3 STEM course term, and while that is daunting, I know when and where to get support.
The beginning of Senior Spring!
There are still so many opportunities at Dartmouth I want to explore, but I have learnt what to prioritize and which activities truly make me happy. When I think about my first-year fall, I feel an immense sense of gratitude and accomplishment for how far I have come as a Dartmouth student. We have just welcomed the Class of 2030, and I am so incredibly excited for the next generation of Dartmouth students to find their home in Hanover!
Welcome back to Open Doors—your inside look at life in the Woods! This week, Sarah Getraer '26, a studio art major, showed me around her dorm room, where we discussed Dartmouth residence halls, classes, and campus life.
