Note: I meant to post this yesterday, but I decided to throw out my back on Thursday. Sitting at a desk the last couple of days has not been pleasant.
My college career spans fifteen years and five schools and it’s all over the place, both figuratively and literally. The subjects are varied as are the grades and no-grades. There are many classes I withdrew from or just earned bad grades in, and the reasons for doing badly are varied. I started college right out of high school with untreated and severe medical issues. For the next several years, the quality of my work was up and down, though mostly down. My early to mid-20s consisted of me finally learning to manage my health issues and finding stability, which is reflected in my college transcripts.
After my mother died in 2014, I decided to finally take a four-year hiatus from school. I moved and found a job as a reading, writing, and math tutor. I gained confidence in myself because I was actually quite good at my job. I may not have done great in school, but I could help others be great.
In 2017 I uprooted myself again to move over 800 miles away. I found a job with Tacoma Public Schools as an AVID tutor. Working with students made me itch to go back to school, so I researched schools in the area. I found myself attracted to The Evergreen State College: non-traditional school for non-traditional students, which fit me perfectly. And I thrived here at Evergreen. I still had my ups and downs but there were far more ups.
What I love about Evergreen is the interdisciplinary nature of it. The other thing someone may notice while looking at my transcripts is that the classes I’ve taken are in a myriad of subjects. I have always had a multitude of interests and my focus of study has over the years changed as I have changed. I’ve become a jack of all trades when it comes to academia. It would be easier to list the subjects I haven’t taken a class in than to name all of the subjects that I have. Evergreen allows me to take my variety of interests and run wild. My first quarter I learned about community herbalism, the colonization of modern herbalism, the medicinal actions of various plants, and a bit of botany – all in the same program.
Though I have taken courses in many subjects, I do tend to gravitate towards the arts and history. I have always adored creating things with my hands using a plethora of mediums from paint to wire to fiber. I have also always adored learning about people’s history: the history of the common people instead of those who ruled. What was daily life like within a particular underrepresented people? What did they eat and wear? What were their religious beliefs? What did they portray in their art?
Through Evergreen’s Independent Study Contracts, I’ve been able to mix both art and history in my final year. I’ve been studying ancient Greece and researching their clothing: the materials, the types of clothing and how it was worn, the significance of specific clothing pieces, along with her-stories and mythology. I’ve researched what plants were around to dye their textiles (and because of earlier coursework at Evergreen, I have experience working with natural dyes). The creation of textiles was the responsibility of those who were identified as women, so I’ve also studied the concept of “women’s work” and the symbolism of the tools of that work, the spindle and the loom. And by combining my love of art and history, I created the opportunity to add another subject to my belt, sustainability studies; I transformed a sheep fleece into an ancient Greek himation while keeping track of how much time and money I’ve spent, and placing all of this experience in the context of slow versus fast fashion.
In my fifteen years of college, I have learned many things. The knowledge I have gained by taking so many subjects has inadvertently prepared me for what I’ve decided to do after Evergreen, which is to become a teacher. But, some of the most meaningful lessons are the ones that didn’t take place in a classroom. One of the most important things I’ve learned is how to fail. There is learning in pain, in seeing that you are infallible, and in seeing that there is something to be gained in every failure. I also learned the extent of my resilience and determination; I know now that there is nothing that can keep me down and nothing I cannot overcome.