Frosh Profile: Sonya Jampel

Since many of our blog readers haven’t had the privilege of running the trails and roller skiing the back roads of New England with our new first years, I thought it would be fun to interview one of them so you can all get to know her a bit! Sonya is one of three new-comers to the women’s team this year (along with first year T Wynn and sophomore Elowyn Pfeiffer).

Here's her beautiful smiling face

The other morning, we grabbed a classy Paresky breakfast together, and I tossed some questions her way, some skiing-related and some utter (or udder?) nonsense.

We’ll start with some basics...

LS: Where are you from?

SJ: Just outside Boston... Newton, MA.

LS: What entry are you in?

SJ: Willy E

LS: When did you start skiing?

SJ: 8th grade

LS: Classic or skate? and distance or sprint?

SJ: Classic… if the wax is good. 10k mass start is my favorite.

Sonya is proudly carrying on the CSU --> Williams tradition

LS: Obligatory interview question: you’re going to dinner with 3 people, alive or dead. Who are they?

SJ: Okay, so these would all be individual dates.

1- My great grandmother. My middle name is named after her and I never got to meet her

2- Taylor Swift. I was really upset that she didn’t come to the campaign announcement the other week.

3- Hermione Granger, my fictional role model.

LS: Will Friday be Mountain Day?

SJ: YES. Everyone I’ve talked to said so.

LS: 3 words to describe the ski team experience so far

SJ: Intense, Beautiful (specifically, getting outside and off campus so much), and spunky (because that’s a better word than just ‘fun’)

LS: What is your go-to pump up song?

There’s a lot, depending on what mood I’m in. Currently, it’s Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.

LS: What are the best and worst parts about eating in dining halls?

SJ: The best is that somebody makes your food for you. You just show up and there’s food. Oh, and I really like Goodrich.

The worst part is that I have to leave my dorm to get it.

LS: You’ve already started planning your Carni crush, right?

SJ: No I haven’t, I’m still a little bit confused about the whole process…

LS: Tell me something obscure about yourself.

SJ: When I was little, I competed in race walking. It was pretty ridiculous.

LS: Got any funny race stories?

The worst one was freshman year at Eastern High Schools… I was the opening leg for our relay team. My ski fell off and I just left it and tried to ski on one ski… Not a good decision. I thought it was like running where you can keep going if your shoe falls off.

This winter, I had a rough weekend… In one race, both my contacts fell out. In the other I got frostbite.

cute.

Thanks for choosing Williams, Sonya! We've loved having you around, and we can't wait for the adventures to come!