Name: Manoj Ambalavanan
Age: 21
Year: 3rd year
Relationship Status: Taken!
Major: Philosophy, Spanish and Pre-Med
Hometown: Centerville, OH
Hobbies: Listening to music, hanging out with friends and attempting to stay fit/in shape
Her Campus: First off, how do you pronounce your amazingly long last name?
Manoj Ambalavanan: Well if I were to try and spell it out as how you would say it, I think it would be um-bal-la-va-nun. I used to tell all my grade school teachers that there was an A in every syllable and that used to help them out. I’d say practice makes perfect.
HC: Great. What is your favorite thing here at UC?
MA: Picking one thing is pretty hard. For me, though, it would have to be all of the different students and how passionate they are about what they do. Seeing all of the cool things that they are able to create and produce really makes me proud to be a bearcat.
HC: What is your favorite study abroad trip so far and why?
MA: This is an easy one: definitely my four weeks in Guatemala. The main reason being because this is where I met the great Tyasia Jenkins, along with other people. Other things were just the group of people we went with and how they became a great family, and I really ended up loving Guatemala and the city of Antigua. I definitely need to return or go to another Latin American country before I graduate.
HC: What made you become so involved with Student Government and UFB?
MA: I had some involvement throughout high school so that’s what initially sparked my interest. I just really like the far reaching ability to impact a large amount of the student body that both of these organizations have. In a sense, it makes me really feel like my time and efforts are going towards improving the students experience here. And for the most part, the people are super fun and always keep things interesting.
HC: If you could change one thing during your time here, what would you change?
MA: I would hope to have a better teach evaluation system. I feel like there has to be a way to have a much more evaluative and efficient way to use all of the evaluations we fill out every semester that would better benefit the students and professors.
HC: Last question! What song is currently your song of the week?
MA: To be honest, it’s probably “Take Me to Church” by Hozier. It’s in the new LeBron James Beats commercial and it’s just epic in my opinion.