This interview was conducted by Antonio Mendez, an Intern with the office of Marketing & Communications. Antonio will be denoted by A and Tristyn will be denoted as T. Photos courtesy of Tristyn Millsap.
Meet Tristyn, a junior at Evergreen studying the environment. Tristyn transferred to Evergreen from South Puget Sound Community College where they previously attended and earned their Associates Degree. They plan on pursuing their Master of Environmental Studies at Evergreen.
Antonio: Hey! What is your name and what year are you?
Tristyn: My name is Tristyn and I am a junior.
A: What's your favorite thing about Evergreen?
T: Oh, boy, there are so many. And we just talked about this today in class, actually. I would say that my favorite thing about Evergreen is the community here. The community is so diverse and there's people from not just Olympia and Washington, but all over that came from wherever they came from just to come here.
Everybody is so accepting and cool and understands that we all have different opinions and values and that we all come from different backgrounds. And I've never once so far of being here felt judged by anybody else - I just feel like I can truly be myself.
A: Was there anything specifically that brought you to Evergreen?
T: After I finished my Associates I wanted to come to this school because I wanted to stay in state since in-state tuition is cheaper. This place was just the best option for me and for what I wanted in terms of learning about the outdoors and the animals/wildlife - locally and non-locally.
None of the other programs at other schools really compared to the level of this place. And the classes that this place has, they're just so unique and niche in ways that I've never in my entire life seen. It's just incomparable, in my opinion.
A: Have you had a favorite class before, or favorite assignment?
T: Fall Quarter I took Fungal Kingdom with Paul Przybylowicz and Lalita Calabria. And that was like one of the best times of my entire life. I love that class so much. And that was the first time I'd ever really been to college in person because I did community college all online. I didn't go to class a single time.
A: Oh, so it was your first time being in physical classroom for instruction?
T: Yes, like a full college classroom experience. I love that class so much. I could go on for a long time about that class just because of how immersive it was. The field trips and what we learned was so useful. I still use it today when I'm going hiking and I can identify mushrooms and stuff since that was a lot of the class.
And now I'm in Outdoor Leadership and we just finished a very intensive two week course for WFR (Wilderness First Responder) Certification. And it was also with Paul Przybylowicz who is just the coolest guy I've ever met in my entire life.
A: Do you have any advice for people that are going to be doing their first year here, like the incoming freshmen or transfers?
T: Something to know is that the classes here or the programs I've taken are very self-reliant. The professors really give you the tools that you need to complete your tasks, but you guide yourself through a lot of the assignments and there's a lot of responsibility on you and you are expected to do the work yourself and it's just very heavy on the self-motivating aspect. So, if you want to do well, that's on you. It's up to you. If you don't do well or need help, they [professors] will talk to you about it, but this is ultimately on you to really push yourself.
A: And then last question, whats your favorite thing about the campus?
T: Oh my god, there's so many things. Maybe the fact that we're smack dab in the middle of the forest. I visited several college campuses and it's just like concrete jungle - where I have to drive to get to certain buildings for classes it's not all in one place. Evergreen is so magical, like the wildlife is out and we have deer just walking through campus along with squirrels and other creatures about — I just love it here it's so magical and the campus is beautiful. Anybody who appreciates wildlife and being outdoors would appreciate this campus. I just truly love this place.
