Five Reasons That I LOVE University of Puget Sound (In No Particular Order)…
1. The leaves during fall! Check out how beautiful they get!
2. The professors. I could go on and on, but here’s one specific example of how amazing they ALL are. Today, I saw my Religion professor, Greta Austin, who I had for one class in Spring 2008. She wrote a letter of recommendation for me to go abroad, and when she saw me for a split second in the on-campus coffee shop, she said “Welcome Back!”. The fact that a professor I had 1.5 years ago remembered that I had been abroad, and took the time to say “hi” to me in passing speaks to how much the professors care about their students. (Another example, since I can’t limit myself to just one… My Biochemistry professor, Amy Odegard, wants to write a “guest blog” sometime this year… So get excited for that!)
3. We get to host national conferences! The National Race & Pedagogy Conference was this past weekend, and I got the chance to hear Harvard Law Professor, Lani Guinier, speak about education reform. Wow! (I will also have the chance to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak next May when he comes to Tacoma.) It’s incredible all of the opportunities that are offered to me as a Puget Sound student.
4. We are just 40 minutes from Seattle. I have been up to Seattle twice in the past couple of weeks. The first was for my Teach For America interview, and, last Thursday, I went up with some friends to the Ingrid Michaelson concert. IT WAS AMAZING. She is such a fantastic live performer, and, seeing as how I’m already a fan of her music, it was such a treat to see her performing some of my favorite songs. I know the quality is bad… but here she is with her whole band performing “You & I”.
5. The D3 sports teams rock. Our volleyball team is ranked 25th in the country, and 4th in our region (West Coast), and 1st in our conference. Women’s soccer is 24th in the country, also 4th in our region, and 1st in our conference. What’s more, five of our soccer players (3 women and 2 men) were recently recognized by ESPN as being stars on the field AND in the classroom. Yes, in case you were wondering, our athletes are fantastic!