Anna Dery ’27 Finds Community & Stories at Puget Sound

She traveled from her home base in Copenhagen to England, Scotland, France, Iceland, and Norway, where she spent a few days absorbing each piece and reading scholarly articles to understand the artists and their work. One such painting is an 18th-century portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a woman of African descent, alongside her white cousin. Belle was raised in British high society even as the slave trade was still flourishing elsewhere in the British Empire.

Hands-on, interdisciplinary learning experiences are a hallmark of a Puget Sound education. Students are encouraged to make unexpected connections, ask deep questions, and pursue passion projects. All graduates participate in at least one experiential learning opportunity, including summer research, study abroad, community-based learning, and internships. These experiences outside the classroom enable students to gain valuable real-world skills and prepare them to make a difference in the world after college.

Dery’s passion for stories runs deep. Her own Puget Sound story started when she was a high school student in Colorado. After completing a rigorous International Baccalaureate program, she knew she wanted to go to a small, liberal arts school. But first, she wanted to take a gap year, traveling and studying in Spain before returning to the U.S. and living in the Teton Valley, where she worked in the ski industry in Wyoming. It was there that a friend invited her to her first open mic night.

“I’d never done anything like that, but I put my name in the hat and my name got called,” Dery recalls. “I was so scared. I had tunnel vision as I walked up to the mic. My voice was shaking, but as I told my story, I gained confidence and I felt so alive.”

A rainy, foggy visit to the Puget Sound campus convinced her to apply and she received merit-based scholarships to cover some of the cost of tuition. She brought the idea of the open mic night with her and got involved with KUPS, the campus radio station. She started a weekly show where guests share true stories from their lives — and even convinced President Isiaah Crawford to be one of her first guests. Later, she branched out into live storytelling events, hosting open mic nights in the university’s glass-domed Oppenheimer Café.

During her sophomore year, Dery applied for a Hurley Community Service Scholarship to collect more stories at nonprofits in Tacoma and Seattle, which provided an even wider base of storytellers for her weekly show.

“That semester, I was recording constantly,” she says. “I couldn’t produce them fast enough. I would finish classes on Friday mornings and then spend the next seven hours racing to have everything done by seven o’clock when I went on the air.”

In addition to her radio show, Dery also loves to be active. During her first year at Puget Sound, she realized that the school didn’t have a dedicated running club. So, she decided to start one for students who wanted to run recreationally. She started by organizing weekly runs and encouraging club members to run in local races. In 2024, Dery and a couple of other members of the running club even ran in the Tacoma Marathon. 

“It took a while to build community, but now we have weekly runs plus a time for just women runners, and a monthly community run where anyone in Tacoma can join us,” Dery says. “We’ll buy donuts and run to a lookout where we can see the mountain. Our biggest turnout so far has been 38 people. It’s so fun.”

Later that year, she also got involved with Puget Sound Outdoors, the university’s outdoor adventure group, where she completed a semester-long training to become a PSO leader, which included a weeklong backpacking trip and a Wilderness First Responder course.

“I love being outside. It's my favorite thing in the whole world,” she says. Leading day trips in the wilderness has also helped her build valuable leadership experience, allowing her to gather groups of people around a common interest, and step up to take charge when needed.

Dery likes to stay busy and push herself to have new experiences, finding time in her schedule to volunteer at Tacoma’s Second Cycle bike shop, make a mini-documentary as an intern at an organic lavender farm, write for the student newspaper, and serve as treasurer of the campus Beekeeping Club. While charting her own path through her undergraduate education, Dery has her sights set on what she wants to do after graduation.

“Pursuing a fellowship has been on my mind, particularly ones that allow me to travel or pursue a personal project and really dive deep into a subject,” she says. “Beyond that, storytelling bridges everything that I’m interested in. So, whether it’s working in audio production or writing a novel, a life where I get to express myself creatively is the ultimate dream.” 

When it comes to thinking about making a difference in the world after graduation, Dery says her education at Puget Sound has empowered her to take risks and be authentic to herself.

“Because of the experiential learning opportunities I’ve had, the community engagement I’ve done, and interacting with people who are different than me has prepared me to move forward in the world,” Dery says. “So, I hope I can impact the world in a positive way. The only way to do it is to be authentic and trust that everything is going to come together in a way that serves me and serves others.”