Just One of the Engineering Guys

Strings evenly placed along the wooden neck of a violin, Leslie picks up her instrument and starts playing a Kings of Leon song. “Apparently she’s really good at violin, but I've never seen her actually play it though, weird right?” says her best friend Erik. Violin is one of her few passions, which adds to her uniqueness. She thrives on family, friends, and religion for support, three important things that make Leslie the great engineer she is.

Other than the violin, Leslie plays the guitar. It’s an interesting contrast how she enjoys playing two completely different instruments of music. She loves going to rock concerts. Recently, she went to a Kings of Leon concert during fall break. You could probably spot her in the crowd, swaying to the music, on top of someone’s shoulders, probably Erik’s. She likes to listen to Christian rock and play the video game Rock Band. Music is what allows Leslie to escape the stress of engineering and college. Whether she’s dancing to a techno song at a party or moving to a hip-hop beat that’s vibrating from the rooms below her dorm, she tolerates all kinds of music.

Along with music, the outdoors is a sanctuary for Leslie. She’s a member of the cave club and loves to go caving. Leslie enjoys hiking anywhere, especially in Blacksburg. She likes to explore nature and basking in sun. Being active is what Leslie strives for. She’d rather be working out then watching TV or playing sports then being caged indoors. Nonetheless, she did write a paper on how naps were important. She loves to nap--quick naps, long naps, fun naps--she loves all kinds of naps.

Not only is she physically fit, but she does well academically. Leslie plans on majoring in Civil Engineering and working in construction. She excels in chemistry, engineering, and calculus. She always strives for the best and always tries to challenge herself. Leslie is a go-getter and her father would say, “I think she gets that from me. Admittedly, we love to win. It’s not a bad thing.” She’s never gotten in trouble and is an all-around good person.

Faith is important to Leslie. She is Methodist Christian and at times uses bible study to release stress. Leslie attends at least one church event every week. In fact, that is how she found her roommate Chrissy; they both had mentioned how important their religion was to them. “She loves God and is always involved in Church activities,” says Paul Ewell, her father.

Family and friends are very important to Leslie. “They are yours forever and they cannot be replaced,” she says. She has a great relationship with her family, but she’s really close with her dad, “God could not have made me a daughter better than her.” Her dad is her biggest influence. She helps around the house whenever someone needs her. Even though she’s the youngest of three sisters, she’s the most mature and the tomboy of the family. She loves hanging out with friends. There is always a twinkle in her eye and big smile on her face whenever she talks about Erik. In her dorm room, there is a huge collage of Leslie and Erik, reminding her of the good times back at home.

Leslie is practically one of the guys. She hates being girly, hates girly things, and is a one-of-kind tomboy. “When we first started talking to each other, she said she didn’t have any girl friends, it sort of freaked me out a bit,” that was Chrissy’s general first impression of Leslie. However, after the first week of college, Chrissy couldn’t ask for a better roommate. Even Erik’s first impression changed completely, “she's one of those don't judge a book by its cover types.”
Leslie is the perfect roommate. She is very easy to get along with. You rarely ever hear her complain about anything. It takes a lot for something to bother her. She always has good intentions and a good heart, but “she can be a ruthless competitor. She can truly do anything the boys can, only MUCH better,” her father would say.

Like everyone else, she does have her pet peeves. She dislikes judgmental people and stereotypes; she hates it when people make assumptions about her. She doesn’t appreciate people who are lazy or apathetic about school work. She hates getting shots and sometimes bad grammar gets on her nerves such as the use of “good” and “well”.

Along with the Wesley Foundation-Methodist Church and the VPI Cave Club, Leslie is a part of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Hypatia (girl themed engineering hall). She has always been a fan of Virginia Tech and had always wanted to come here for engineering, even though she ironically lives in Harrisonburg, very close to James Madison University. She also lived in Maine and in North Carolina, but she grew up in Virginia Beach and lived there for 12 years. Lucky Leslie has been to Australia and would love to revisit the country. Nonetheless, “Italy would be a nice country to visit for its rich culture and architecture.”

In her dorm room, she sleeps on the top bunk bed, which is very inconvenient in Slusher Wing. Her wall is full of pictures of her family and Erik. Her food stash consists of candy such as starbursts, skittles, twizzlers, etc, and ramen noodles. If you can’t find her in her room, then she’s either at class or in Lee hall. Most of her friends are on the guy’s floor. She made a lot of good friends with the guy engineers in Galileo, but even some of them would have never guessed that Leslie played violin.

In fact I’m still surprised that she plays violin. It takes breaking the first impression and reevaluating all of your assumptions of Leslie Wells to be able to know her truly as a friend.