Erica Leal

2 months ago | universityofcalifornia.edu | Erica Leal

The UC Irvine students began laying beams along the concrete foundation already in place, eventually creating the framework of a house. With each strike of a hammer, lumber became walls, metal became a roof, and soon the structure was complete. “Finally, my own space!” one of the teenage onlookers cheered in Spanish as he saw the bright blue home – newly built for his family by the students at Engineers Without Borders.

2 months ago | news.uci.edu | Erica Leal |UC Irvine

Their morning began before the sun had risen. Group members left Irvine at 5 a.m. to journey across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. As they arrived at the designated site, wooden beams, posts and boards were unloaded from the back of their white pickup truck. The UC Irvine students began laying beams along the concrete foundation already in place, eventually creating the framework of a house. With each strike of a hammer, lumber became walls, metal became a roof, and soon the structure was complete.

Jan 17, 2025 | news.uci.edu | Erica Leal |UC Irvine

Fourth-year UC Irvine student Yessica Ornelas believes that directly engaging with a community is the best method for cultivating change. Growing up in Soledad, an agricultural city in Central California, she was surrounded by talk of higher education being an unattainable goal. However, her parents encouraged Ornelas to chart her own course, instilling the importance of erudition. For the aspiring first-generation college student, this meant navigating an unfamiliar system on her own.

Dec 2, 2024 | news.uci.edu | Erica Leal |UC Irvine

The sky’s the limit for UC Irvine seniors Larissa Castro and Dennis Melka. Both have been chosen for highly coveted flight training in the U.S. Air Force. “Every time I climb into an aircraft, even if it’s something I’ve never flown before, it just feels right,” Melka says. “It’s you, the aircraft and the air.

Nov 22, 2024 | news.uci.edu | Erica Leal |UC Irvine

Third-year UC Irvine student Eric Patrick has always gravitated toward virtual environments. “With physical activities, you’re kind of limited by [whether] you can get enough people together or have the materials,” he says. “But you’re really unbounded when you’re in digital spaces.”Growing up in Mission Viejo with a father who worked in computer science, Patrick discovered at an early age that he enjoyed designing playable experiences for others.