Hi! I'm Bella! I am a junior Mechanical Engineering major here at UMD. My experience here has given me the opportunity to meet some of my closests friends, get involved with different communities and grow both personally and academically. I enjoy talking to others and sharing my experiences here. I am very passionate about UMD and love sharing what makes this university feel like a home. From living in the dorms freshman year with new people who became fast friends, to living in my sorority house with girls who are like sisters to me, and now an apartment with my best friends. I would be so excited to help prospective students and their families picture themselves as part of the Terp community!

Hometown

Garden City, NY

Major(s)

Mechanical Engineering

Clubs, organizations & involvement

Kappa Alpha Theta (sorority)- Philanthropy Director of my sorority. I have planned one very successful event, so far, where we raised over $5000 for the local CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) charity here in PG County, and look forward to planning our next event this fall. On top of that I also help out CASA with their own events by volunteering at them.

Describe your college experience

I have loved every bit of my college experience, and can not imagine myself at any other school. My freshman year I met some of my best friends, to this day, on my floor. Those friendships made my college transition especially easy and gave me a strong sense of community from the very start. As I continued through the year I went through sorority recruitment and met even more people who shared similar interests and values and was able to connected with them on a deeper level. I have also made friendships with people in my classes, group projects, and other experiences on campus. One of my favorite parts of college has been how, even after finding my closest friends freshman year, I have continued to meet new people and build meaningful relationships.

Tip for future students

Some tips I have would be that during your first year to not be afraid to talk to people even if you're more of an introverted person. Everyone around you is in the same situation trying to get to know people. Another tip I have is using the time in between classes to get work done. If you have long breaks or even an hour in between classes, use it to get some stuff done so when you get back after a long day you won't have that much to do and can relax earlier. Lastly would be to attend office hours. In highschool I was never someone who needed extra help learning and did just fine on my own, but once I got to college there was a lot more information and even if I understood it, going to office hours really helped me master it and helped my class grades a lot.

Favorite class

So far my favorite class has been my CAD class and my intro to engineering class. Both classes allowed the students to use the technology and resources that UMD provides to gain hands on, real-world experience. I especially enjoyed being able to apply the concepts I had learned in class to projects and designs which helped me to understand the way engineering principles are used outside the classroom. Another class I very much enjoyed was my American History class, which I took over the winter. Since the course was not related to my major it gave me the opportunity to explore a different area of study and learn about social and cultural issues that have been going on in our country for years. I appreciated being able to learn outside my major and gain a broader perspective of the world.

Career goals

After college, I am hopeful to pursue a career in engineering where I can apply the technical and hands-on skills I have developed throughout my time at UMD. I am especially interested in the automotive industry and the development of electric vehicles and other emerging vehicle technologies. I want to build a career where I can continue to learn, take on new challenges, and use engineering to create solutions that have a real-world impact.

Ideal way to spend a free night

I would spend a free night by grabbing dinner from one of the many restaurants around here, like Chipotle, Cava, Chopt or Shake Shack, with friends, bring it back to my apartment and turn a movie on, and have a chill night of relaxing and hanging out with no homework or other commitments.

High school or secondary school

Garden City High School

Favorite spot on campus

My favorite spot on campus is ESJ. It is located right on the Mall near the library and in the center of campus. It is a good spot to sit and do some work in between classes or even to grab a bit to eat at the cafe there. I will go there to get some work done or to go study during finals. They also have study rooms you can book for certain amounts of time. I have used them for doing group projects for certain classes.