Author Archives: rtanoue

About rtanoue

Hey! I'm Rachel Tanoue, a biology major neuroscience and bioethics emphasis in my sophomore year here at Puget Sound! I come from Aiea Heights, Hawaii (island: Oahu) & am super excited to live in the NorthWest! I'm a coxswain on the UPS men's varsity crew team, Hui O Hawaii member, Secretary on ASUPS Senate, a Theta & a Cellar-ite! Puget Sound offers so many opportunities in Tacoma, the surrounding areas, the academic community and in everyone else who calls themself a logger, I'm so excited to share all my thoughts and adventures with you! #oncealogger #alwaysalogger

thnks fr th mmrs

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There’s a good number of us that graduated this year that were born in the year 1995 or before. It’s crazy to think we were five, already in kindergarten by 2000; that we grew up on disney channel releasing music videos and tv movies where other young people were just as weird and silly and unrealistic. The ages of the boy bands and girl bands, outfits of prints and denim, large sunglasses, big curly hair and accessories.

The kids of today and people growing up today have so much technology, connection to others and knowledge and care about what’s happening in the world around them and what those around them think it’s crazy to think how “uncool” I was ten or so years ago compared to the kids of today. I think it’s given me a unique appreciation for my upbringing and how amazing college is. So I just wanted to say to UPS thanks for the memories!

** Early 2000’s throwback reference to the title of this post!**

Always a Logger

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As I was cleaning out my room this past weekend getting ready to move out I found an earring I had forgotten about. A single earring that I kept despite losing the other during move-out freshmen year. I had bought it at the fall student market from another student, a girl I didn’t know but I loved her jewelry pieces! It was an homemade silver axe design pair of earrings! I wore it all the time freshmen year, loving the school spirit and the swing of the axes (with none of the danger!). I was infinitely sad to discover I had lost one of the earrings and I didn’t have any others that matched or would work mixed with the single axe earring I had!

All these memories came back as I prepared to move out. Especially so in my moves every year, that I clearly didn’t throw away a lone earring when I try to de-clutter as much as possible! A lingering symbol of freshmen year Rachel and my excitement about being a Logger. I wish I could’ve wore the pair of earrings on graduation day but alas it was not meant to be. I’ve grown so much during my time at UPS, freshmen Rachel I no longer am. Yet axes, loggers I will always be, an alumni of UPS with all its shared with me. And probably for the rest of my life explaining to those unknowing no I didn’t go to the United Postal Service, Puget Sound is a completely different place and transformative experience!

#oncealoggeralwaysalogger

#hackhackchopchop

Put your phone down, Look up!

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With the rapid advancement of technology especially phones, its not an uncommon sight to see students wandering around campus with their heads down, eyes on their phone whether thats for messaging, playing games, surfing the internet, snapchat, or any other social media app. Even I myself am guilty of looking at my phone a lot, its almost easier to look at my phone instead of kinda awkwardly making eye contact with someone I kinda know because I recognize them because of how small our campus is but I don’t actually know them (do I wave? do I smile?). But as my time at UPS is coming to an end I’ve taken to really appreciating our beautiful campus, making effort to look up; look at the architecture, the weather, and observe what’s around me. Here are some of those photos of places I am commonly, Harned Hall, Thompson/Harned Courtyard, Lillis Cafe, Upper Marshall Hall, Oppenheimer Cafe, passing the President’s Woods and more!

harned clocktower harned light circle lillis cafe opp outdoors trees upper marshall

How does your major affect your postgrad plans?

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Coming into college I knew I wanted to be a biology major, as a hundred or so other people thought and eventually abandoned the sciences for other intellectual pursuits I continued to enjoy and be fascinated by what biology and understanding of our body, cells and humans can do. Yet, with graduation approaching and the end of my undergraduate learning, I believe many people are at a crossroads. Yes, we put in four years of work towards taking classes for our major, focusing on specific classes for specialization where our interests lay, and fieldwork/research/internships further studies in our major but we’ve also done more outside of our major. Whether that’s a job to fund our education, internship, shadowing opportunity, fieldwork, minor/emphasis courses, liberal arts “other” course not under our major and involvement in the community that may interest us just as much as our major did in the beginning.

memes major

Sometimes four years of hard hitting academics within our major and focuses tires us out when graduation approaches. Not many individuals choose to pursue continued education immediately after undergrad, the ones who do have a clear path they are pursuing. And its taken me awhile and my own personal experience, it can be okay to not know what we want to do post-undergrad or doing work that is not directly related to our major, not directly related to our $240,000+ education that we received. It’s okay to be uncertain, to do something new, to do something that pays the bill, to travel and fulfill some dreams and all will hopefully well in the future.

 

Expectations

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When you go to college you don’t think about teenagers/early twenties students running branches of national organizations, attending conferences, putting on events that cost thousands of dollars and more. Yet in my experience that is the responsibility and opportunities available to students in college and at UPS. We’re representatives of our university, clubs, honor societies, departments, labs, fraternities and sororities and more all connected through a national network. We have opportunities to be national leaders for our respective organizations, regional representatives, and sit on communities representing our peers to professors, deans, professionals and more.

I’m constantly in awe when I think of my experience in my sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. We’re at a small university and still our executive team, for some its their first time in a leadership position and even so its a role that is very different than limited high school responsibilities. We handle thousands of dollars putting on our philanthropy and formal for over 100 people, we coordinate events with other houses and community organizations to do fun activities and service projects. Many other campus organizations do the same, some planning rallies, and workshops!

 

Even the opportunity to live off-campus, we as students have to find roommates/housemates, reach out to landlords, set up our utilities with various companies and preferences. We furnish our own homes for a few months to a few years during our time year, choosing to live off-campus, walk or drive to campus and begin to stop relying on the campus meal plan but rather cooking (or trying to cook) for ourselves. These are all valuable experiences heading off on our own whether its a graduate program where we must find our own living situation, even finding a job in a different field than we expected to pay the bills.

Spring Semester Second Half Crush

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My high school had two semesters and four quarters so each half of the semester was clearly marked with a grade and a finals week that signified the end of sections. This lead to a more enjoyable break without extensive homework to do as new content was beginning after break ended! However at UPS and most colleges I believe, there are no two quarters within a semester, all the work and learning leads to a semester grade and midterms is a very real busy week but often vary in intensity and actual timing due to various types of assignments.

Beyond that with graduation and the end of the year imminent, there are so many events and extracurriculars that all students are participating in and attending. Of course spring is also the best season!! Senior and junior performances, thesis presentations, national subject conferences, and much much more!

Here’s a small snippet of the weekend plans that are coming up this last few weeks before graduation!*

April 1st: Largest home track meet, Puget Sound Decision Day, Phi Sigma (STEM) Research Symposium, (for me) Theta Formal, Senior Theatre Festival (STF) Performances

April 8th: Parents Weekend: Luau, STF, Opera Performance

April 15th: Sigma Chi Derby Days Philanthropy, RDG Performances, STF, Underground Sound Concert, Garden Level Concert; Easter; Pesach

April 22nd: Jacobsen Series Performance, STF, ASUPS Lectures w/ Janaya Khan

April 29th: Relay for Life, Tacoma Bike Swap,

Mary 6th: READING PERIOD

May 14th: COMMENCEMENT

 

*These are all events I’m aware of! Not including club activities, other greek life philanthropies and formals, etc.

 

Traveling

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It’s always the things we haven’t done ever or in awhile that we think, “oh, that’s fun! i want to do that!” and for me that was traveling. I was lucky enough to travel to DC this spring to attend the JStreet National Conference with Hannah (pictured in the brunch photo) exploring all of DC’s amazing sights and weather! Honestly traveling is one of the amazing opportunities afforded to you in college. Many clubs have national affiliations with regional or national conferences that host amazing keynote speakers, thought-provoking breakout sessions and you get to meet amazing people from other colleges and parts of the country! Just because you attend a West Coast conference, not everyone who goes to schools there are only from the West Coast! Additionally since conferences are part of club activities or school supported activities (since you’re representing the school) there are many ways for various clubs, student government, finance, academic departments, etc. to subsidize costs of travel! It was my first time to DC and since I didn’t have classes, Hannah I arrived at the conference a little early and stayed later to soak up full days of exploring! It’s the original experiential learning experience!

Representation Matters

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While its exciting to see how far we’ve come to celebrating each others differences I know we still have so far to go and the media is a big influence on that. Growing up we get a lot of of cultural understanding and societal expectations from books, the news, movies, tv shows and music. Children don’t see race, they see you and me and everyone else all as people until they grow older and realize some characteristics that make us different, ones we are proud of have, others can see as something else. This story of a young boy who wants the same haircut as his friend to trick his teacher just shows how much our differences don’t need to matter. http://www.today.com/parents/boy-wants-haircut-look-his-friend-trick-teacher-t108795

Moana, (which I haven’t actually seen, don’t shoot me!) has captured my heart even without seeing the full movie. A story about Pacific Islanders, of darker skins deeply resonated with me. I grew up with stories of Maui, the Hawaiian Superman, I love the ocean and its as much a part of me as everyone who lives in the Pacific. What makes this movie even more meaningful is that Disney took the time to recruit and cast individuals of Pacific Islander descent to play the leads. Dwayne Johnson grew up for a short time in Hawaii and is Samoan. And the lead, Auli’i Cravalho is a 16-year old girl of Hawaiian descent from Hawaii! The lead production team traveled across the Pacific learning about the nuances of the various peoples from island to island and incorporating those values into the stories, the characters and songs of the movie. Opetaia Foa’i is a Samoan musical artist who wrote beautiful songs in Samoan and with the values he grew up to keep the authenticity of Moana. Its so exciting for me to see this culture and story inspired by the islands I grew up in can be shared across the world, with those who haven’t had the chance to visit the Pacific, to know these peoples. Representation matters.

moana

**As of spring break I SAW MOANA and cried many happy tears and emotional tears, connecting with the trials and tribulations of Moana, Maui. And a joy for Auli’i and all the artists who contributed to make Moana authentic!

Friends & Spaces

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Friendship is one thing, and living with a friend is something else. It’s often when you live with someone you learn more about them than you did before, a lot more and sometimes that can put a strain on your relationship. You see them a lot more voluntarily making plans and involuntarily due to the nearness of your living situations. Or you could see someone a lot less, take it for granted you would hang out and see each other a lot even if its in passing getting ready in the morning or going to bed at night. But one thing’s for sure, proximity to friends influence your relationships with them.

One Foot in the Door, One Foot Out

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As a senior it’s kinda weird to think my time at UPS as a student is coming to and end in 4 and 1/2 months. 3 years 4 and 1/2 months ago I arrived to Puget Sound a bright-eyed girl from Hawaii ready to be away from home. With the end so near its easy to always be thinking and worrying about the future instead of enjoying the last of my time at Puget Sound. I only have a few more months to contribute to whatever I would be getting involved in, while a lifetime awaits afterwards. Yet I think seniors have much to offer to our friends, and campus community. Many of have experienced life at the Puge for four years. We’ve seen the ups and the downs of the variety of activity and engagement students can have and what a meaningful impact it can have. Most of us remember a time when we had senior friends who inspired and guided us through our choices at UPS. While much has changed if we seek to restore or uphold the spirit of the extra-curriculars we enjoy, we have much to continue to offer as a member, potential leader and friend.

While its easy to see the end of our time at Puget Sound is coming near, its only the end of our time as students. On graduation day, we become a part of a greater larger community at Puget Sound, our alumni who have gone out into the world and do amazing things. They may have been uncertain about their futures, stumbled and fell, but have continued on with the support of Puget Sound behind them, support of the friends they’ve made here and drive for a better future. These months are a time to cherish my time as a student but once a logger, always a logger.

baby logger