JULIA DUARTE, COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Activities: Villanova Band, Anime club

First-year lessons learned: The importance of social connections

When I knew engineering was right for me: I was young, around 10, when my mom noticed me building with blocks and suggested I might be a good engineer. After a high school coding class and an engineering elective, I thought, “I can see myself doing this!”

For fun: I like to read for fun and listen to classical music. I’m in the band (I play the mallets) and VU Voices (the women’s vocal group).

What you’d be surprised to know about me: I seem reserved and keep to myself, but I’m much more amiable once I get comfortable with people. I’m also known for my determination in my work because I like to be the best that I can. I grew up in a Filipino household and am semi-fluent in the language.

Why Villanova: When I visited, the campus looked really nice and knowing what I learned through my own research and what I heard from my family and academic advisors, I knew Villanova would be a good choice because it has a great reputation.

Career goal: Programming, maybe game development or character movement