Name: Erick Balde
Year/ Major: Junior Biochemistry Major
Hometown: Newark, California
Her Campus: If you were to be a food what food would you be?
EB: I’ve never thought about this. I would be pasta because pasta has a lot of variety and I feel like it is also the only food I can live forever on. I could never get tired of it. I love all types of it– there’s no discrimination. I’m open to new things. I don’t know if that has a correlation to trying new things. You can mix a bunch of different things with pasta. I’d be butterfly pasta because I like to be free.
HC: What do you like most about your major?
EB: I get to study two of my favorite subjects: biology and chemistry and how they intertwine with one another. Although my major is heavily chemistry I am actually picking up a minor in biological sciences because I felt like there weren’t enough bio classes in my curriculum. I love learning about the interaction of molecules and how basically that affects form and function of almost anything. It really blows my mind how interactions between small molecules we can’t see with our naked eye and makes us do what we’re capable of doing now in modern day society.
HC: What’s it like to be College of Science and Mathematics (COSAM) ambassador?
EB: It’s an awesome experience. You get to meet people in the COSAM dept,interact with Dean Bailey and with a bunch of professors in the COSAM department and make relationships with staffs. You know how there’s a whole stigma about professors and students, what I love about COSAM ambassadors is not only do we get to nerd out, but I love how I am able to portray and show other people how excited I am to be a science major because I think science is cool and I want to be able to show other people other things I am learning and things I want to apply in my future.
HC: What impact has being a COSAM ambassador had on you?
EB: Being a COSAM ambassador, I feel like I’ve found a group of people who can joke around and feel I can be myself around them and not feel judged for it. It’s allowed me to be more involved in the COSAM department, but also given me a sense of duty and carrying out the legacy cosam ambassadors have been upholding for the past years. I want to be able to continue that legacy and show how awesome it is to be a science major.
HC: Favorite place to nap on camps?
EB: Baker! Baker is my home, I study, I eat, I sleep, I talk to professors and hang out with friends in Baker. I brushed my teeth once in Baker– that shows how much a home it is for me. I’ve pulled an all-nighter there. Baker is my second home on campus to be quite honest with you.
HC: Favorite place to eat on campus?
EB: To be honest, I like eating at the UU plaza– I don’t do this as often as I want to but I love to eat outside especially when the sun is out and there’s no wind and seeing people pass by and just enjoy nature.
HC: What inspires you most right now?
EB: Honestly what has been inspiring me right is how lucky I am to be at such an awesome college campus. And so I think what I am trying to say is– people who generally have a very optimistic attitude. I see now that life is too short to care about small and petty details. Yes we do have projects mid terms, due dates, all those things in our calendars but you know it’s just seeing optimistic and happy people has really opened me up to stop and smell the roses because we only have x amount of years here and I do not want to take this life I’m living for granted. So because of the people I surround myself with who are typically optimistic.
I’ve been developing a more positive outlook on life where I do not complain as much because I know there are bigger problems. Despite all the struggles, days get better, life goes on, and you just gotta roll with the punches. It’s all about your personal happiness that matters and being nice and considerate.
HC: If you could travel anywhere right now for 24 hours where would you go?
EB: I would want to go to Europe and backpack there. I love adventuring, exploring new places trying new foods being exposed to new culture and I want to get out of my comfort zone and put myself in a situation where I wouldn’t necessarily be stressed out, but it would be new– not necessarily uncomfortable, but unfamiliar because it it gives me a whole new perspective.
HC: What’s something you love?
EB: CORGIS CORGIS CORGIS. I follow so many corgi instagram accounts. I have corgi apparel, I talk about how I sometimes look like a corgi because I feel like we both vibe on the same level. Corgis are short, corgis are derp, they can run fast and I did XC at one point in my life. Sometimes I freak out and my eyes gleam everytime I see a corgi it’s almost embarrassing. The one thing that kills me is their body to leg ratio– it is so disproportional, it’s so great and it gives me life. That’s the main reason why I fell in love with corgis. Corgis for some reason when they smile they have very humanistic faces– like with all dogs, but corgis stick out to me the most.
HC: Most proud of in terms of your identity?
EB: I’m most proud of learning not to care about anyone and what people have to think about me.
My whole life I have been very self conscious about my image and how other people perceive me and that took a toll on my self esteem and it wasn’t until last year, I think towards the end of winter quarter going into spring that I realized it’s much easier not to care what people think of you. In the end it’s all about your personal happiness and what you want. You shouldn’t care about what other people think, some people are strung up on it,but not putting myself in that mental state has not only helped me morph and shape into the young man I am today but it has also given me confidence to ask questions in class– asking questions is a good thing, it helps me and may help other people. I do it because I need and want to and I don’t care about what other people say just because they feel a certain way. No one is supposed to like me, there are gonna be people who will disagree and although people may or may not like you in the end it really just comes to coming to terms with loving people who love me for me. People who love and accept me for who I am and that knowing they will be there for me when I need them is what pushes me to do my very best everyday when I wake up.