Please tell me about yourself, such as your year, your pronouns, your majors or minors, and your hometown.

My name is Jonathan Ye (he/him). Most people call me Jon. I'm a first-year majoring in MCB and data science, and my hometown is Hillsborough, New Jersey.

Can you talk about what committees you're currently in or have been in?

I have been in two committees. My first one was Data Foundations, and now I'm in Data Mentorship.

How did you choose your two majors, and what would you like to do with them?

I haven't figured out exactly what I want to do yet. I'm considering bioinformatics and data science. When most people hear what I'm doing, they ask me, "Are you premed?" The answer is no, I'm not premed. I just like biology, particularly marine biology, and I am interested in how genetics and genomics can be used to conserve marine life. That's why I chose MCB. For data science, I did research in high school related to what I was interested in, like coral reefs, and I realized that research is a pretty important skill to have. Additionally, almost all my friends are CS majors, so I thought I'd pick up coding in the process.

Do you have a fun fact that you would like to share?

A fun fact about me is that if you watch tennis, my favorite tennis player is Daniil Medvedev. I don't know if I can do it anymore, but I used to be able to do the splits up until pretty recently. I haven't stretched in a while, but I can still go pretty low.

What are your hobbies or interests?

I'm interested in tennis, ping pong, and all racket sports, basically. I like chess, and I'm trying to learn how to skateboard. I can skateboard a little bit, but I'm trying to get better at it. I also draw here and there.

Do you have any internship experiences, or are you involved in any other clubs on campus?

I have research internship experience. Currently, I am in the recruiting process for a spring internship and a summer internship. I have a final round interview and a meet-the-team interview this Friday, actually. I can get back to you on that, depending on how things go. Additionally, I am involved in Sustainable Entrepreneurship at Berkeley (SEAB), where I am a PM this semester. It's a great club, and it's pretty different from other consulting clubs here at Berkeley. I get to work with some pretty cool, more niche companies. One such project is with a sustainable fishing technology company, which I am PM'ing for. I think it's really cool that we have a lot of freedom to do what we want.

How did you find out about SAAS, and why did you join?

I found out about SAAS from tabling. I joined because I coffee chatted with Skyler, and we had a lot of similarities. He then told me to go meet the members. So I went to meet the members, and there I met Arnav, who was my Big. I met a lot of people, but the two people that I talked to the most are Arnav and Little Kish, Kishore. I found out Kishore was from New Jersey too and really close to my hometown. Actually, a really close family friend of his that had the same last name as him went to my high school, so that was pretty cool. That's how I met some people, and I thought, "those people are pretty cool, we get along pretty well." When I first met Arnav, I thought he was gonna be the biggest nerd ever, but he's actually really funny. Then, I was like, "I should totally join this club, they're doing cool stuff with data science." With DF, I could learn some more advanced topics that maybe I wouldn't get to learn until later on in my college career. So that's why I joined SAAS, and it turns out, it's actually a really cool club with a lot of even more cool people.

Out of the two committees you've been in, do you have a favorite? Or is there anything fun or nice that you've learned so far?

Well, I've only had 2 DM meetings, so for now, I'd say DF is my favorite committee. I think this is also because I was a new member last semester and had this kind of bliss, but it was really cool to meet a lot of new people. My favorite memory from last semester was when we had a trivia night as a social for DF, and I gave [DF Director] Skyler a haircut that was pretty questionable, but it was a pretty fun experience.

What made you stay in SAAS for another semester?

I feel like you can't really get much better in terms of the club. From the professional development side, you have these great parties, and you have a lot of experienced people to learn from. If you want to go into data science, then there's not really any other better club than SAAS because you have all these great opportunities and then socializing. I've met a lot of great people that I would like to continue to have in my life and also get to meet more people. There are a lot of opportunities in SAAS in terms of socials, meeting new people, and getting to really know people.

Do you have a proudest accomplishment in SAAS?

My proudest accomplishment is winning the Kaggle competition last semester.

How did you make friends in SAAS? How do you meet them or meet more of them?

I feel like a lot of the freshmen drift toward one another. I feel like I got pretty familiar with a lot of the freshmen. Our retreat was a big way for me to meet new people. I think a lot of people had similar interests as me, so I always had something to talk about with them.

SAAS's three values are community, exploration, and mentorship. Do you have a favorite out of those, and what about that makes it your favorite?

I'd say, probably community because I feel like you get mentorship and exploration through SAAS, and you can get them from other places, but the community is what makes a neat club. I guess that's what makes SAAS unique, the community aspect.

Do you have any advice you would give to new members?

Go to as many socials as possible because it's fun, and your first semester is really where you get to meet all the people and then figure out if you want to stay or not.

In the two semesters you've had so far, has SAAS changed during your time, or do you have a personal vision for it going forward?

I feel like I've only been here two semesters, so I can't really say much as to how much it's changed. I think it'd maybe be a little nice to see a little more biology people and people who are interested in what I'm interested in, applying data science to sustainability or the environment or biology. I get that the appeal is mostly CS and data science majors, but I think it'd be cool to see a couple more bio majors.

Do you have a favorite professor or class at UC Berkeley?

My favorite professor would probably be John DeNero. I would say probably 61A and 61B are cool classes, but the coolest Berkeley class that I've taken is LGBT 145, which is about queer history. I think it's a cool class in that I'm learning a lot about how intertwined queer history is with women's history and black history. I also got to learn a lot about the prison system because being queer was so criminalized. I got to learn a lot about that system, and it was just really eye-opening. In the class, we had speakers, and one of them was part of the Free Speech Movement here. That person literally had an FBI agent who followed them around. Learning about these things in history classes is cool, but also actually getting to see things like living history is really cool.

Do you have a favorite spot on campus that more people should know about?

If you're like skateboarding, down towards the BAMPFA side of campus, there's a route that you can go straight down really fast. I also like the hill at the top of SOCS because if you go down that hill, you can go all the way down through Sproul, and then there's a downhill slope at the end right before Sather Gate. You can keep going down that, and you'll go really fast. Keep going, and it'll take you all the way to the edge of campus, and you'll be right at the BAMPFA. It gets me to class on time because I have a class at BAMPFA.

Do you have a favorite or least favorite restaurant?

My favorite restaurant is definitely Dumpling Kitchen. I think Gypsy's is really overrated.

Do you have a favorite place to study on campus?

My room.

What do you think you'll miss the most once you graduate from Berkeley?

That's so far away. I'm not thinking about that, but I feel like it's got to be the people. They're what make the experience.

Please roast yourself.

I feel like I'm kind of a loser in that I feel like I'm always at home, and I never go out that much unless it's club-related stuff. I could be taller, I guess. I don't know; I don't think about these kinds of things. I try not to bring myself down.

What's your favorite memory?

I really like my sophomore year of high school. Toward the end, my friends and I would explore this creek near my house together, and that's one memory that I'm quite fond of.

What's your favorite compliment to receive?

My favorite compliment to receive is getting called handsome.

In another life, would you ever change your name or your major?

I would change my name to Jon Gupta. In another life, maybe marine science and data science or CS and microbiology or marine biology.

Since you're a skater, have you ever injured yourself, or what's the worst injury you've gotten?

My worst injury was that I did some shit to my wrist when I was playing tennis. I missed the first few practices and had wrist surgery. I played through it through this season because my mind was like I want to play. It was my senior year, and it kinda went away, but I don't know; it still flares up here and there.

Who knows you best?

My girlfriend knows me best.

Is your girlfriend the person who makes you laugh the most?

No, it's my roommate.

If you had a warning label, what would it say?

"Does foolish things at times."

Is there a song that describes your life, and why?

There's no song that can describe my life.

Is there a topic that you could talk for hours on end about?

Coral reefs.

What's your biggest fear, and why?

My biggest fear would be being alone in life. I feel like it's the people around you that make life real, and without other people, if nobody else is real, that's kind of lame, like what are you doing?

What's something that you're super proud of?

My greatest accomplishment in life is that I had the opportunity to give a presentation at the 14th International Core Reef Symposium. I talked about youth engagement and advocating for coral reefs.

Would something like that be your dream job?

Hopefully, that'd be a part of it. My dream job would be to be working in marine conservation. I guess I don't really care what it is. Ideally, it'd be like something hands-on, and I'd get to be near the water and work with reefs. I guess my dream would be to develop some sort of solution to coral bleaching.

Do you have any unpopular opinions?

Rafael Nadal should not be considered the GOAT of tennis. Another unpopular opinion that I have is that mushrooms are trash and should never be eaten. Actually, I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion. Tennis is the hardest sport. I never trained for basketball but I could hoop, I could play, and I could score against some kids that played basketball in high school, whereas in tennis, they're not even taking a point off me. One or two, maybe, but in my prime, they're not scoring any points off me.

What's the best advice you've ever received?

The best advice I have received is "play the game like a king."

What's the best gift you've ever received?

The best gift that I've ever received is this ring that my girlfriend got me for our two-year anniversary.

What's your biggest pet peeve?

My biggest pet peeve is when people litter or people do stupid shit. It's the little things. You don't have to throw the trash; you could just hold on to it and throw it out later. Can you imagine how much better society would be if people didn't litter? That's one thing; people are just so lazy and inconsiderate; it's not that hard to just hold onto that little piece of trash instead of tossing it. That's a pretty big pet peeve. Another pet peeve that I have is just ignorant people.

If you were an animal, what would it be? Would it be a fish?

There are a lot of cool types of fish, but I wouldn't want to be a fish. I would want to be a bear, not Oski, but like a typical brown grizzly bear.

What's the strangest thing you've ever bought, and for how much?

I don't know; I don't buy very many things.

What's your go-to song at karaoke, and can you explain why?

Either "Paradise" by Lil Uzi Vert or "Attachments" by Pressa. "Paradise" used to be my undisputed favorite song. The first time I ever heard it, I was on a sleepaway trip for the Science Olympiad at Harvard during my freshman year of high school. We were in this shady-ass bus, and one of my older friends played it, and it was really good because I'm a big Uzi fan. I had never heard that one before. I was not at the peak of my Uzi fandom yet, but I guess after that, I started to listen to him a lot more. I feel like it was different from most of his other music. It was very beautiful; that's how I'd describe it. I have a lot of great memories associated with it. Fun fact, on Spotify Wrapped, "Paradise" was my top song for four years in a row. But I think "Attachments" might take over this year because I've been listening to it a lot. It's just a good song. It takes me back to my senior year of high school, driving to school with my sister, and I think the instrumentals are spectacular.

If you could choose anything to do for a day, what would it be?

I would probably play in a tennis tournament or play pickleball. I love to compete.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Please don't litter; it's just not that hard. Little things go a long way.