"Year One: Life at ASU" is a periodic photo series following five freshmen navigating their first year at ASU. This installment checks in on Eric Arellano in the classroom setting.
-
Eric Arellano is one of four students who show up for the first class of the Confucius Institute's Beginning Chinese on Sept. 10. Three, including Arellano, are Flinn Scholars who are taking the course to prepare for their three-week trip to China early next summer.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Arellano learns the new sounds of letter combinations in his Beginning Chinese class — learning language can be a daunting task, but Arellano is eager for the challenge and dives into the class.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Every student has a method to learning; Arellano shows us a bit of his technique as he writes the sounds of letters under the letters during his Beginning Chinese class. It's a way to reinforce the right way to pronounce the language.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Beginning Chinese teacher Yi Wang goes around the room asking her students to pronounce letters. Arellano did well, consulting his notes — with the pronunciation marks — to show his evolving grasp of the language.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Always eager to learn, Arellano studies the letter sounds on the first day of Beginning Chinese class. He hopes to have a grasp of the language by next summer.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Arellano came to Arizona State University to major in sustainability. But a few weeks into his first semester, the Tucson native has changed his major to computer science — though he'll still be minoring in sustainability. Here, Arellano sits among the students in his Principles of Programming in Java lab on Sept. 4.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Teaching assistant Aditya Tangirala gives instructions during Arellano's Principles of Programming in Java lab.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
-
Arellano looks over his work in his Java lab. The Flinn Scholar is working toward a degree in computer science. His goal is one of altruistic entrepreneurship — to create a company that is viable and improves the world.
Charlie Leight/ASU Now
See what Eric was up to earlier in the semester in this past gallery:
Year one: Life at ASU — moving into the dorms
More Arts, humanities and education
Dual-language psychology program at ASU shows the importance of cultural context
Context matters — even in as seemingly a straightforward situation as quitting smoking.A recent discussion in an Arizona State University graduate psychology course delivered in Mandarin showed…
ASU course explores culture through an interdisciplinary lens
When Razieh Araghi joined Arizona State University in fall 2025, she wanted to show students the power of humanities. Her course — SLC 202 Exploring Cultures: Words, Images, Stories — aims to do…
ASU launches ‘AI-Informed Writing Classroom’
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”This question, attributed to novelist E.M. Forster, alludes to the role of writing in discovery and cognition.In 2026, the existence of large-…