On the ice

I picked up figure skating at Brown and never put it down. I skated with the Figure Skating Club for three years and spent much of that time teaching complete beginners their first laps, which turns out to be the fastest way to relearn a sport yourself.

Four members of the Brown Figure Skating Club standing on the ice at Meehan Auditorium, empty stands behind them; Emmanuel Colmenares on the right in a brown Brown T-shirt.
The men of the Brown Figure Skating Club, Meehan Auditorium, December 2023.
Underwater

Scuba diving started while I was working in the Pacific and grew into something more useful than a hobby: hundreds of hours of ocean-cleanup dives, which alongside animal-shelter volunteering added up to an Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.

Languages

I grew up with Spanish, studied Russian seriously enough to make it a degree, and spent a semester in Kazakhstan picking up Kazakh. The habit eventually escaped the classroom: Leksika and Soyle exist because I wanted better vocabulary tools than the ones I could find.

On the mat

A black belt in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, and a couple of years teaching it as a certified instructor. These days it survives mostly as a warm-up routine and a deep respect for people who fall down well.

Emmanuel Colmenares in a plate carrier flashing a shaka, flanked by three Marines in camouflage utilities at an obstacle course in Okinawa.
With some of my students at the obstacle course, Okinawa, November 2019.
Quiet hours

Tutoring chemistry, math, and Russian, which I did pro bono through most of my time at Brown, and small builds for their own sake. These small builds include little websites, odd datasets, and tools I wanted to exist.