Geek of the Week: Jeryl Sandoval, Junior, Mechanical

It is that wonderful time of year when most Orediggers have begun their first run of tests and their grades begin to fall like the leaves off of the trees. In the midst of this chaos, “The Oredigger” caught up with junior mechanical engineer Jeryl Sandoval, who shared why she still enjoys this school and all of its geeky ways.

What has been your favorite class and why?
Modern physics, because it was interesting and it was cool to figure out how to comprehend/ understand something you can’t really see happening, but know it is because of physics. I also really enjoyed all of my math classes, especially Differential Equations and Calc 3.

What makes you a geek?
I love Yoda. I have a Yoda stuffed animal and think he is awesome. Also when my boyfriend and I were doing C++ homework, he kept saying “char” for character but all I could think of was Charizard (laughs). Also I didn’t learn how to ride my bike until last year and a lot of my friends made fun of me for it because they said it was an essential part of childhood that I missed out on.

Why did you choose mechanical engineering as a major?
I picked mechanical because it offered the greatest variety and the broadest spectrum of career paths. And it will be a good way to build an engineering and science background for my future.

What kind of activities are you involved in outside of school?
I’m an officer in the Kayak Club, I do safety boating and that kind of stuff to get people involved in the club. I tutor at the high school and am starting this semester to tutor at the middle school. I am a member of SWE, SHPE which is the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and I’m a member of Tau Beta Pi, which is the engineering honors society.

What do you like to do for fun?
I like kayaking and doing outdoor activities. I enjoy trying new outdoor sports, and over the last year I’ve learned how to ski, kayak, and rock climb. I also enjoy tutoring middle school and high school kids, along with reading and yoga when I’m not using my brain for school.

What is you favorite thing about mines?
I like the fact that you can walk around campus and hear extremely nerdy conversations and it’s just the norm. I also love watching humans vs. zombies. Last year I saw some kid jump over the bush to avoid being “eaten” by the zombies, it was pretty funny.

What is your least favorite thing about Mines?
Leading up to a test, the whole experience is just way too stressful and having multiple tests in the same week or on the same day is just terrible.

What is the nerdiest thing you’ve seen at mines?
One time, my boyfriend and his roommates were all sitting around playing and discussing old school Pokémon games on their smart phones. Also the humans vs. zombies game on campus gets pretty nerdy; some of the kids get real into it.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
The ability to be like the guy from numbers, and be able to predict the future using mathematical solutions, and just be able to visualize the answer in my head without having to write it down.

If you could be an animal what would it be?
Well if I were an animal, I’ve been told I would be a squirrel because I was told by “Earthy Ma” on Pearl Street that my spirit animal is a squirrel (laughs). But I would want to be a dolphin because I like to swim and because they are crazy smart.

What advice would you offer students reading this?
Make sure you find ways to have fun. It is important to balance school with extracurricular activities like volunteering or sports or clubs. It is just important to do something besides school and to make time to have fun to keep from getting too stressed out.

What are your future plans?
I want to go to grad school. Hopefully at one the California schools like Stanford or Berkeley. I want to study bioengineering and how to use biological solutions to solve technical problems.