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Yehalah Fernando

Class of 2026
An image of a student in a botanical garden
Bio 

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!

Academic Program 

Energy Engineering

Favorite Thing Right Now 

Watching movies with friends!

Hometown 

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Pronouns 

she/her/hers

You are here

Yehalah's D-Plan

What's a D-Plan?

    • FallHanover, New Hampshire

      Favorite Class: SART 015: Drawing 1

      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!

    • WinterHanover, New Hampshire

      Favorite Class: SART 025: Painting 1

      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!

    • SpringHanover, New Hampshire

      Favorite Class: HIST 07.37: Race, Nation and Ethnicity

      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.

    • SummerColombo, Sri Lanka

      Taking a break at home with good food and family!

    • FallHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: GERM 1: Introductory German

      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!

    • WinterHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: ARTH 38.01: Sacred Architecture of Asia

      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!

    • SpringBerlin, Germany

      Favorite Class: GERM 44.07: Metropolis Berlin

      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!

    • FallHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: ENGS 33: Solid Mechanics

      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!

    • WinterHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: COLT19.01 Translation: Theory & Practice

      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!

    • SpringHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: ENGS 29: Computer-Aided Design and Kinematics

      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!

    • FallHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: ARTH 29.06: Slow Looking in Paris

      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.

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The Great Outdoors (and Indoors)

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Read on for a non-exhaustive list of fun things I had the opportunity to do over the past few weeks!

  1. No. 1

    The Climbing Gym!

    climbing

    I feel like this one qualifies as both outdoors and indoors because it an outdoorsy activity being done indoors. You know what I mean? The Climbing Gym is a bouldering cave with varying skill levels (I only got to level one of course) and is free to all Dartmouth students! If you are courageous enough to try the higher levels, I truly admire you. One foot up and I already want to be back on solid ground. However, the instructors there are extremely friendly and will teach you the ropes (disclaimer: there are no actually ropes). It takes some time to get rid of the fear of falling but it gets easier the more you do it!

  2. No. 2

    My First Sunrike

    sunrike

    A Sunrike is just what it sounds like; a sunrise hike. Except in this case, courtesy of New England weather, it was more of a foghike. We woke up at 5AM to drive to Frenches Ledges and then hiked in 4 degrees Celcius to the top! Now that I think about it, it was so early that it feels like more of a fever dream than reality. Regardless of the fog, it was a nice hike and the drive back through peak fall foliage was beautiful.

     

  3. No. 3

    Paintball

    paintball

    Last weekend I went on a West House paintball trip (all expenses paid)! The bus ride was a good two hours away but it was worth it. I am proud to say I managed to take out three people (not much, I know, I am not skilled). It was extremely tiring but definitely good exercise. I left with an expansive collection of bruises ranging from my leg to the tip of my finger (which is still not healed) but also left with the satisfaction of knowing I can survive in paintball. 

  4. No. 4

    THEMEPARK!

    canobielake

    I saved the best for last. West House sponsored a trip to Canobie Lake Park this weekend which was easily the highlight of my week. We went on one ride that goes straight up and down really fast which is actually much more scary than what it sounds and looks like. We also went on a ride that twists and turns and goes upside down! The adrenaline rush was enough to keep me going for a month, but now I find myself in a constant craving for rollercoasters. Nonetheless, this just proves that West House is the best house!

Posted 10/26/2022 at 9:00 AMAll List Posts

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