Welcome to Student Life at Evergreen!
The Student Life blog helps you get the inside scoop on living in Olympia and attending The Evergreen State College. Blogs are updated frequently with experiences in student and community life. Check out any of the blogs to learn more. Ask us any question you have by posting a comment!
Chelsea
I’m Chelsea, also known as Little Red, and I’m studying Creative Healing here at Evergreen. You can usually find me down on our organic farm. I’m in the Practice of Sustainable Agriculture this quarter. If not, I’m probably at the climbing gym in the CRC or shakin’ a tail feather at Dance Co-op. Though it took me a of couple years and stints at two other liberal arts colleges, I’m ecstatic that I’ve finally found the perfect place for me! I love Evergreen, and I want to share this awesome place with everyone!
Elissa
Hello! My name is Elissa and I am a senior here at Evergreen studying International Political Economy and am originally from Texas!
Why would a Texan ever want to leave all that heat and sun and come all the way to the Pacific Northwest? For me, it had to do with the fact that Evergreen is an opportunity to create the kind of education I wanted, and thus build the skills to create the kind of life I truly want. I took a year off before coming to Evergreen (what an awesome decision!) and now I’m going into my senior year and I feel transformed in ways I never thought possible in regards to my ability to be in engaged in the connections between grassroot community work, government policy, and social change.
During my time at Evergreen I have gotten to: make short films, camp on Mt. Rainier for two-weeks with my class doing field work, travel to Venezuela for 3 months studying social change and U.S. foreign and economic policy, become a peer writing tutor in the Writing Center on campus (check it out!), have life-changing discussions around race, class, gender, sexuality and disability, actually understand economics….and the list goes on. The best part? I also get to learn from all the amazing things my friends and peers are experiencing too.
I live off campus with 2 other amazing women in a house that used to be a hunter’s cabin, where we scheme transforming the world through empowering women, changing economic policy, and shifting education. We also love to dance and are forming a band! Olympia and Evergreen are those kind of places…anything you can dream up, you can do, and there are tons of people to support your wildest ideas.
Erin
Hello! My name is Erin and I’m a junior at Evergreen this year. I’m a Pacific Northwest native and grew up on a small sheep and pig farm outside of Portland, OR. I really wanted to stay in the NW and Evergreen is the perfect distance away from home – I really lucked out on that one!
I came straight from high school to Evergreen wanting to do non-profit studies and because of our unique curriculum, I’ve approached it from many different angles. I began with decolonization work, but wandered my way through history, public policy, economics, psychology and art – all of which I feel have been adding to my ultimate academic goal of non-profit studies. This fall I’m studying Third World social movements and sociology and I have a feeling most of this year will be focused around those.
I am excited (and a little daunted) to be in school for two more years, but I love the Pacific NW and I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time in Olympia has in store for me! If you have any questions about Evergreen or Olympia life, feel free to send me a message and I’d be glad to help you!
Karl
Hi there! My name is Karl and I am in my third year here at Evergreen. Currently, I am studying International Relations, Economics, and Cultural Studies. Some of my previous programs include Caribbean Cultural Crossings, Caribbean Tourism, Foundations of Economics, Re-Interpreting Liberation, and Marxist Theory.
Originally, I am from Shepherdstown, West Virginia and when I am on holiday I spend most of my time there working at a French bistro bartending and waiting tables. When I am not in school or working (which is rare), I am usually in my kitchen developing my cooking and mixology skills or outside enjoying the natural beauty of this wonderful state.
This year, I will be taking America Abroad, with the hopes of traveling to the Lesser Antilles to continue my ongoing interest in economic development and alternative economies in the Caribbean. If you have any questions, please follow through to the blog to find my email.
Sovay
Hi! My name is Sovay! I am originally from Tucson, Az. I am studying literature, writing, and opera. When I am not in class or studying I love to hike, run, climb, and sing! I am a student ambdassador at The Evergreen State College, and I love love love Evergreen. It is, in my opinion, the perfect school.
Tom
I’m Tommy and in September 2010 I began to experience the glory that is being a full-time student at Evergreen. Most of my time is dominated by reading masterpieces and emulating those masterpieces in my own writing. I remain committed to my favorite hobbies: rocking, hiking, biking, and rapping, but I am primarily devoted to my school work, I love my school work. This past spring I finished my junior year in the program Writing American Cultures. I wrote an epic 67 page piece of cerebral sweat titled Meaningful and Dignified Work. A fine example of interdisciplinary studies, it explores labor history, prose, ethnography, Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, political economy, and journal documentation. I basked in the glory of remedied ignorance as I scribbled away in my notebook. The best part though: for this project I got to ride my bicycle from Olympia to San Francisco, camping along the way, performing ethnographic research and composing my most robust piece of writing yet.