Peer Mentors

Olga Yatsenka

Hello! My name is Olga, I’ve been working as a peer mentor for a year now and I’m very excited to continue working with you all and getting to know you more! I’m a second-year transfer student at the University of Michigan coming from a community college from the sunny state of California. I’m a Comparative Literature major and my minor is in Ukrainian. At the Comparative Literature department, I focus primarily on Eastern Europe and specifically, Belarusian literature. This year I am beginning to work on my Honors Thesis so if you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Apart from my major, I also do translations from Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian into English. Outside of school, I love to bake cakes (I have yet to master bread-making), play Stardew Valley, go on walks around the beautiful Ann Arbor, and hang out with my friends. I’m excited to start working with Aya to organize events for the Comparative Literature majors and Translation minors so be on the lookout for us in your emails as we announce events throughout the year!

Aya Sharabi

Hi! My name is Aya, and I'm one of your peer mentors! I'm so excited to meet and work with everyone! A little about me: I'm studying Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track, but my first love has always been the humanities, so I decided to pick up a minor in Comparative Literature my Junior year after taking a wonderful COMPLIT class on translating world literature! Growing up in a multilingual household, I've always had a deep interest for works in translation, so talk to me about anything world literature (especially anything in Arabic or French, like Proust or Kanafani)! My favorite thing about COMPLIT has definitely been the artfully crafted environments where I've been able to grow that interest! Outside of school, I love to make jewelry, read (evidently), collect sonny angels and other overpriced knickknacks, cry to Bollywood movies, and write for the Michigan Daily! Feel free to talk to me about any of the above and I can't wait to see you all soon!