The Basics:
Name: Yaselly Sanchez
Year: 3rd Year
Major: Mechanical Engineering
School: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Graduation Year: 2018
The UVA Questions:
What advice would you pass along to your first year self?
Don’t be afraid of failing. It happens, it’s life. You are so much more than your grades. You are your accomplishments, your charisma, and your personality, so don’t take that for granted.
What is your favorite thing to do at UVA?
For those who know me, they also know that I’m quite the people person. It’s very interesting to be in an environment where I have the opportunity to meet so many new people literally everyday. My life was not put on pause after I made my first year friends, I continue to form new friendships: as some bonds are broken, stronger ones are formed. Even now as a rising fourth year, I know that I’ll be in a place that is diverse in thought, if not anything else, where I am dared to be curious.
What is your favorite study spot on Grounds?
My “spot” has changed quite frequently over the past three years. I’ve migrated from the long table inside the Hereford Hub in the most rightward seat to the third wooden cubicle in front of the window on the second floor of Clark Stacks, and now to the right corner computer close by the large window in Alderman Library. Each ambience changed as I also changed. I went from the first year who loved the hill, to being enchanted by the high ceilings and antique style of Alderman. Maybe I’m getting older? Wiser even?
What have you not done yet at UVA that you would like to do?
I would love to be part of Salsa Fest. I’m loyal to my Salvadoran roots, and I am an avid dancer. There’s something about the sound of bingo at tambora drums that make me want to dance and never stop.
What UVA tradition is your favorite?
I can’t actually say I have one. I believe there is a stigma about the “UVA experience,” but including certain traditions, or not, it’s different for everyone. I’m not the kind of UVA student who frankly cares if I meet the 2018 things to do before I graduate. It’s ehh to me.
What activities/clubs are you involved in at UVA?
I am a Peer Mentor for the Peer Mentoring Program for Hispanics and Latinx students and a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Oh, and I’m also an RA for upperclassmen.
The Fun Questions:
If you had $1 Million dollars how would you spend it?
Well, I am thankful for my parents’ tenacity and diligence for all the years they have sacrificed for my well-being. I’d pay off their expenses and then see how I could invest the funds for my family’s well-being, and if there’s some leftover, a yellow Lamborghini would be really nice too.
What is your favorite TV show?
Right now it’s “La Niña:” a Netflix Original based in Colombia about a an aspiring doctor who was once a guerilla troop. It helps to remember the Spanish that I miss speaking, and it also zones me into another world different from mine.
What is your favorite meal to eat?
I absolutely love cream of tomato soup as my appetizer and then a medium-well cooked lamb with roasted potatoes and a rosemary wine sauce.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Ever since my sixth grade presentation on Barcelona, Spain, I fell in awe for the city and it’s culture. It’s been my dream to go ever since, so hopefully it can happen. Maybe #Summer2018?