On his way to Westside, probably

Next up in our Senior Wisdom series, we have Yadir Lakehal – who is meme famous and 3D prints food.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Yadir Lakehal, SEAS, Mechanical Engineering 3-2 Program, Casablanca, Morocco

Claim to fame: Most of my friends know me as the dude who 3D prints food in the first floor of Mudd, but my greatest achievement was reaching ~3k likes on a columbia buy sell memes post.

Where are you going? I’m usually on my way to Westside. Where are you going?

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2021?

1) Your life leading up to Columbia was and is probably going to be full of successes, but you will also see lots of failures. Don’t let your past failures define your path. For example, I once got a 6% on a midterm, eventually did better than a C in the class, and subsequently ended up writing a Senior Wisdom, so we can all do great things.

2) When you first get here, don’t try to cast the widest net of friends. A bunch of superficial friendships doesn’t mean anything when you’re alone studying in Butler looking for a friend to talk to. Find a couple of people who share similar values and focus on those. The fewer relationships you focus on, the deeper they can go.

3) Don’t live in Carlton Arms. Don’t do it.

“Back in my day…” I transferred here sooo “back in my day” was less than two years ago. Less than two years ago, JJJ’s didn’t exist.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: If you’re from Africa, why are you white?

What was your favorite class at Columbia? My senior design class. There is nothing more rewarding than successfully presenting something you’ve worked on for an entire year (with an incredibly talented group of people) and realizing that maybe, you are somewhat of a semi-qualified engineer

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? My friend bet me $20 I could eat an entire Koronet pie, I ain’t giving up that kind of money.

One thing to do before graduating: Go to the first floor of Mudd. Take two rights after the elevators and at the end of that hallway, walk into the lab with the big glass window and ask me or other nerds to 3D print you delicious meals. This is really a thing.

Any regrets questions? Why do they make transfer students go through NSOP with first-years?

Photo via Yadir Lakehal