Hello, my name is Hawk Veluz and I am a rising sophomore studying mechanical engineering. I’ve been interested in the technology fields ever since I was young. I started off mainly with coding, but thanks to a couple interesting classes I took in high school I found myself looking to get a degree in engineering. Rice is a wonderful school for engineering, and its collaborative relationship with NASA appealed to me as my dream job is to be an aerospace design engineer.
My interest in engineering design is part of what motivated me to take this program. Having experienced the design process once in my ENGI 120 class, I’m excited to sprint through it again during this next month. Additionally, I hope to study abroad for my junior year and wanted to have a bit of experience before I went. I’m not sure where yet, but I would prefer a European country again. I’ve also just wanted to go abroad for a while, after a Brussels program I was in got cancelled due to COVID in 2020. Overall, I’m very excited to be in Amsterdam.
When it comes to exploring new places, I typically like to pick a certain location, followed by wandering around to other landmarks close to it. I feel that Amsterdam is especially accommodating to this because of its extensive public transport system. I’m looking forward to see everything the city has to offer, especially the museums and boat tours in the canals.
I also met the group of University of Amsterdam students I’m going to be working with for the next week. It was nice to meet new people, and I found them to be exceptionally friendly and welcoming. Apparently our project is going to be about helping connect people to appropriate roommates in order to improve their mental health.