Some have called Linda a ‘magician.’ As owner of Linda Andrews Landscape and Design, people in and around Olympia have benefited from her ability to combine science, art, and a deep passion for sustainability to dramatically transform their outdoor spaces. Linda credits Evergreen for helping her think across disciplines, including deepening her passion for nature in the context of human communities.
She came to Evergreen for its interdisciplinary approach to education, small class sizes, and exceptional access to professors. She had a “lightbulb moment” when learning to key plants for the first time at Leadbetter Point as part of a political ecology course. She loved understanding spaces by also understanding flora. While at Evergreen, she cultivated her perspective by combining studies in environmental science, Central America, literature, history, and more. Learning contracts with faculty, like founding member of the faculty Dr. Tom Rainey, helped her develop confidence.
When Linda fell deeply in love with landscape design, her experiences at Evergreen enabled her to reinvent herself, build her business, and give back to the community. Today, Linda’s donations to Evergreen continue to uphold her values. Linda's support for the Evergreen Scholarship Fund has helped students bridge their passions across the arts and sciences, like she did.
She and her sisters have also donated to the Sustainability in Prisons Project to bring nature and environmental conservation into Washington state prisons. Their giving enables incarcerated students to raise and release the endangered Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly. “Designing pollinator-supporting gardens led me to a fascination with critically threatened Puget Sound Basin prairie ecosystems,” says Linda, “I visited the women in the Taylor’s Checkerspot program and witnessed their pride and utmost care in conducting scientific work, with deeply nurturing attitudes toward the butterflies at all stages. The Sustainability in Prisons Project represents the kind of outside-of-the-box problem solving Evergreen is so good at. The women help the butterflies flourish and then flourish themselves.”
As a dedicated alum, Linda knows she is making a difference. “The arenas for change can be as small as a backyard garden or much, much larger,” she says. “We take goodwill into the world, synthesize ideas, think broadly, reinvent ourselves, and solve problems. I hope my support of the Evergreen Scholarship Fund helps reduce barriers so we can all benefit from the synergistic, forward-thinking ideals of today’s students.”
