Sophie Pearl Rosenberg will be remembered for her generous nature, incredible math skills and love for her family and friends.

The mechanical engineering sophomore shared a birthday with her grandmother and enjoyed spending time with her family. She was the youngest of 10 siblings and had immense love for each of her brothers and sisters. Her brother Jakob Rosenberg remembered a time Sophie came to visit him in College Station. 

“I wasn’t able to go home for winter break since I was a transit bus driver, and since she was on break and had nothing to do, she decided to come stay with me,” Jakob said. “She stayed over at my place for a week and brought the dog over too. We had such a good time. It was really cute.”

One of Sophie’s favorite activities was building  things with her father, Jay Rosenberg. Growing up, she continued to help her father, developing a passion that led her to become an engineering student at Texas A&M. Her goal was to become a mechanical engineer and develop Mars rovers for NASA.

“She loved building closets with me,” Jay said.  “She’d put in the screws and the nails and in one of her college essays in why she wanted to be an engineer, she talked about that experience. … The closure she got out of creating something, building it and using it was very powerful motivation for her too.” 

Sophie was known to have the “Rosenberg math gene,” learning binary numbers by the age of eight, but she had many other unique interests as well. One talent she had was creating her own recipes for baked goods. She also had a passion for old films, all the way to the black and white era. Jay recalled a time when she chose to watch a classic 1960s movie over a children’s cartoon movie while waiting in the hospital.

“She broke her arm once when she was about 11 or 12,” Jay said. “We went to the children’s hospital, and they had all these movies that are aimed at kids. She was like ‘do you have anything classic?’ They had a copy of ‘My Fair Lady,’ and she was thrilled. She had already seen it and loved it.”

Sophie was extremely involved with the Chabad Jewish Student Center, and her impact on her peers was limitless. At a ceremony hosted by the center, a senior approached Jay and explained how Sophie had influenced her life when Sophie was only a freshman. 

“[She] said, ‘I’m an Aggie and I have been here for four years, but I have never truly felt at home until I met Sophie. It’s just not what you would expect. You would expect a freshman to lean on a senior, but I lean on Sophie. She was the one that was welcoming to me,’” Jay said. “That’s just the kind of person she was.”

Sophie’s caring nature was shown through her love for children. She took part in the Lily Pad project, which creates platforms to help kids in the hospital move around with their IV bags. She also volunteered at Sammy’s House, where she spent time with children with special needs. 

“She would babysit all the time and get rave reviews,” Jay said. “I can’t tell you how many times she said that when the parents came home, the kids would say ‘why don’t you go out some more, we wanna stay with Sophie.’ That’s just the type of person she was … She loved kids, she loved helping, she loved giving. … It was just second nature for her.”