Manshesht Sharma ’17 misses three things from The Hill School more than anything else: his daily puns, leaving his bag wherever he wants, and the community.

Having gone by “Manshu” during his four years at Hill, Sharma’s biggest change was his decision to go by his full name, Manshesht, in college.

“It’s kind of nice when people take the time to pronounce your full name and actually say it,” Sharma said “Tons of people here still call me Manshu but they all know who I really am as opposed to Hill, where no one knew.”

Originally from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Sharma now attends the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), in Champaign, Illinois.

Sharma has continued to pursue his interest in STEM by majoring in Computer Engineering.

After developing the meetHere app and launching the startup in his 6th form year, he has also chosen to continue his interest in business with a course called Lectures in Engineering Entrepreneurship.

“The course is actually really interesting,” Sharma said. “The professor brings in guest entrepreneur lecturers every week to talk about their experience in technology and business.”

The class also offers an opportunity to engineers to take a trip out to Silicon Valley to meet with engineering entrepreneurs who have graduated from UIUC.

Although Sharma says he loved his experience on SGA at Hill, serving as SGA President, he has decided to specialize more of his time in his major and focus on engineering itself. Sharma plans on applying to the Engineering Freshman Council, a group of student leaders who represent freshman students in the school of engineering at UIUC.

As a 6th former, Sharma was an AP Economics teacher’s assistant and took the Post-AP Economics Seminar. In college, Sharma also takes several electives in business and economics, one of them being Advanced Microeconomics 102.

Outside of academics, Sharma has joined many Residential Student Organizations (RSOs), which are student-run clubs.

Sharma is a part of the Indian Student Association, which sets up events for Indian culture and holidays. He has also joined “IlliniHackers,” a group that competes in Hackathons as a team and travels across the country for competitions. In an extension to beign the head of the Peer Tutoring program at Hill last year, Sharma now teaches coding lessons to other students in college.

Sharma said he is also excited about being a part of UIUC Fizaa, a Bollywood/Hip-Hop dance team on campus. The dance team had their first gig this year on October 6 as the entertainment for a sales convention in Indianapolis.

“It’s a really cool experience that I’ve always wanted to try so I tried out for the team here,” Sharma said. “Fizaa is one of the activities I look forward to most in the week because I enjoy dancing and bonding with a team that is slowly becoming a family.”

In his dorm room, Sharma’s bed is decorated with blue and grey pillows and blankets. A “Hill Yeah!” poster is taped above the bed and a navy Hill hat hangs next to it.

Sharma says he misses the small close-knit community and family that Hill provided.

“You just knew everyone and got close to teachers super quickly,” Sharma said.

Sharma also admits that it can be intimidating to come into the college of engineering with thousands of other students interested in the same subject as him.

“It’s a bit daunting at first not only to study with them but also to try to make friends,” Sharma said.

At college, Sharma says that one has make their own friends within the campus from dorms, classes, and parties. Unlike Hill, there aren’t requirements for friend groups of cliques.

“You get to be friends with everyone,” Sharma said. “It’s kind of refreshing.”

Sharma also has much more freedom at college. He can now stay out all night, every night if he wants to.

What Sharma doesn’t miss from Hill is check-in, study hall, lights out, and closed doors for 6th formers. However, he does believe that they all helped him prepare for college.

“Hill was a fantastic asset. I manage my time so much better because of it.”

Manshesht Sharma, from the boujee pocket squares to the aviators, to the UIUC engineering trip he hopes he can finally attend this year, Sharma will not be forgotten on Hill’s campus.