One of my favorite things about my dorm room in Caltech is the huge amounts of shelf space. Dorm rooms here are pretty big — nearly everyone I know has a couch — which means we also have an abundance of space to store fun stuff. The rooms in my house, Venerable, each have shelves mounted on the walls, which are excellent for displaying all of the random trinkets I collect. Some are from home (like my Green Bay Packers sign), but most are tied to a specific memory from my time here at Caltech.
Mini canvas — This was painted at a Residence Associate (RA) event, which are held every month or so. Each house has one or two grad student RAs who put on decompression events with food and fun things, like painting or puzzles, and they’re also great to talk to when you need some life advice! I painted this based off a picture taken of me at Pinnacles National Park this past year.
Quantum Tea mug — Caltech does groundbreaking research in quantum physics, which is partly why I wanted to take a quantum class while here. This mug (whose other side says Quantum Coffee!) was given to me at the end of Ch21a, a quantum physics class viewed from a chemical standpoint. It’s probably the hardest class I took, but it was incredibly fun and really interesting.
Stuffed beaver — I got this from DiscoTech, Caltech’s annual visit for admitted students. This little guy lived on top of my car’s rearview mirror for a while until he came here with me, and is now a proud display of beaver pride.
Tiny trophy — During freshman orientation, the Caltech Triathlon club put on a super-sprint triathlon: 200 meter swim, 3 mile bike, and 1 mile run. I was looking to get into triathlons, so this was a perfect opportunity to test out my skills! It was a lot of fun, and I ended up getting 3rd place — not bad for my first triathlon!
Wrist guard — I got this as a “senior gift” when I was a freshman. It’s a common tradition for seniors to pass down an item to someone else in the house — sometimes it’s because they don’t want to throw it away, but sometimes it’s because of someone’s personality, major, or personal achievement. This magnetic wrist guard was given to me for being involved in constructing for OPI, Venerable’s Interhouse party.
Lightsaber (and Star Wars poster) — These were another set of senior gifts I received by being a huge Star Wars fan. This poster has been passed down for about 10 years by students living in Venerable. It’s unfortunately a bit too big to fit on my shelf, so it sits next to my door for the time being.
LA Rams foam finger — One of the coolest places I’ve been to in my time at Caltech was SoFi Stadium, the home of the LA Rams. The Caltech SFE office, which puts on many events for students, took a busload of us to watch the LA Rams host the Minnesota Vikings, and they gave these out for free. While I’m a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan, it was still super fun to watch the game.
Metal shield — This super cool shield was given to me during Ditch Day, an annual event where seniors ditch campus and leave behind a series of challenges for the rest of the undergrads to solve. Classes get canceled for the entire day! Our stack (or themed Ditch Day event) was spy-themed. We had a huge fake fight at the end, and our seniors spent hours in the machine shop making these shields for us to use during it.
Venerable House trains & train whistle — Many houses have a something that represents them — a saying, a character, or a logo. Venerable House is a big fan of trains, and I was given these 3D-printed trains when I first joined the house. At Commencement (Caltech graduation), we blow the train whistle when our seniors walk the stage.
3D prints — Caltech Library’s’s TechHub has many printing technologies, which was something I was super excited about when coming here. Not only are the 10 3D printers free to use, they’re also very fancy — just a few clicks of a button and the printer auto-levels and prints without any human input! Within my first week as a freshman, I got trained on them and printed something about every week. This spine was my very first print, and the fish was printed for OPI.
These are only some of the things I’ve collected, and I’ve only been here for four terms! There’s always an event happening (usually for free!), giving us students a chance to try something different or learn something new. I’m sure in the next two years, my shelf will look incredibly different (and hopefully a bit neater!) from all the things I’ve collected.
