Jelani Pool ’24, ocean engineering and french, found a home at URI for the unlikely intersection between her passion for oceanography and the French language. Jelani learned how to put in the work to see results and grow as an individual. As shown in her experience studying abroad with IEP, learning how to combine her interests to create a career for herself, and through her commitment to being an RA and forging formative relationships.

Why did you choose URI? And then, why did you choose the French program specifically?

So I studied French in high school. I really loved the language. So that, in coupling with ocean engineering, I knew that’s what I wanted once I got to college because I was looking for something marine related. When I got here, I went to a seminar with Sigrid Berka, who’s the coordinator for the International Engineering Program. She was talking about learning a language and a technical skill at the same time. And I was like, “Oh! I want to do that,” because you get to do a year abroad. I’d only taken French for two years up to that point and wanted to continue once I got to college. I knew for a fact that because URI was one of the only schools to do that sort of thing, where I could do engineering and a language at the same time, I knew that that’s where I was going to go. I think I only applied to like five other schools before then, but URI was the one that I wanted the most. 

Do you plan to study abroad?

I’ve already studied abroad from August 2021 to August 2022 in Compiègne, France. It’s six months of school and then another six months is a paid internship.

What’s something special about the French program, like specifically URIs?

Yeah, the IEP is one of them. There are a lot of opportunities for you to go abroad just like a French major. A lot of people study humanities or arts and sciences, so they have different schools abroad that they partner with. So you could study abroad in Compiègne, which is where I did it, or in Rennes, which is on the west coast of France. You can spend a year there or a couple months, depending that is works for your schedule and your curriculum. So, I think that’s pretty cool, but there’s also a lot of opportunities for you to meet native French speakers, because there’s a lot of exchange students that come from France, who either live in the International Engineering House on the top of campus or the TI House, or who live in the dorms themselves. There’s even French girls on the basketball team and it’s really fun to hear them speak the language. They don’t know that I speak French because I’ve never spoken to them, but I know what they’re saying and that’s pretty cool. 

What are your post-graduation plans?

I’m hoping to go into my specialization in ocean engineering, underwater acoustics – the ability to hear marine mammal communications and vocalizations underwater. I just had an interview and the CEO of the company was actually Ocean Engineering and French IEP here as well. So that was cool to have that connection. I’m looking forward to using both skills post-graduation because it is harder to find international companies, specifically French companies. 

What is your favorite memory at URI?
Ooh, that’s hard to pick. There are so many. I would say probably my sophomore year. That was my first year as an RA. This is my fourth year as an RA. I’d definitely say my first batch of residents were my favorite. It was a lot of fun to be with a staff that worked really well together, which made me love being an RA. It made me love being an HRL in general. And so I really liked having a different community outside of my majors. The students that I’m normally with are freshmen, so every year I get older and older than them. So now there’s like a five year block between me and the first years, and I’m like, I don’t understand you at all. However, a lot of the students that were my residents previously became my friends afterward. So it’s just a really cool transition to see them grow as people, and then we became friends, and they become RAs if they want to. So that’s really fun. 

What is something that you would want to tell your freshman year self?

It’s okay to look stupid because there’s a lot of things that you just won’t know. When I was coming into school I was used to getting things really quickly and not having to work hard for it. I learned having a good work ethic takes you a lot farther than knowing everything. So I would tell myself that, you know, it’s okay if there’s something that you don’t understand, but it’s not okay to just let that thing be. You’re allowed to grow, you’re allowed to change, but if you don’t change, it means absolutely nothing. And if you don’t work for it, there is no investment in something you don’t work for. So I would tell myself to like suck it up and to do the work because that’s how you grow. And that’s how you learn and you develop new skills if you work for it.