She would get to fill two of the vacant storefront windows of the historic F.W. Woolworth building on Broadway with art installations that would be on public view alongside the work of more established artists.

For three and a half days in late August, roughly 700 first-year and transfer students explored the Seattle-Tacoma region by participating in one of 64 curated immersive experiences from mountains to museums.

Rare in Western Washington, this larger cousin to the more common cedar waxwing experienced an "irruption" last year, which, Will explains, is when a species expands into an area where it normally isn’t found. “I didn’t even see the bird, but I heard it—which still counts,” he says earnestly.

That’s according to In These Times magazine, which published an August 2015 article that connected climate change-induced fear to pre-traumatic stress disorder in millennials. Indeed, this generation has lived through some of the most destructive hurricanes in American history, severe droughts, and massive wildfires. But at the recent Cascade Climate Network Spring Fling conference held on campus, two dozen students were turning that fear into action.

The visitor at Jennie Reed Elementary School in Tacoma turned to someone else and moved on. Then another chance came. “If there are 175 birds in this area year-round, and there are an additional 75 migrating ones, how many birds can you guys see total?”

Matthew caught her eye. “Two hundred and fifty,” he murmured, suddenly shy. 

Many Tacoma residents may not be aware that one of the country’s largest immigration detention centers is in their city. Evan Eurs ’18 certainly wasn’t before he began an internship with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), in partnership with Puget Sound’s Summer Immersion Internship Program.

She’d led a parade of local children with red paper lanterns to a small bridge overlooking the Sound to close out the Tacoma Moon Festival, an annual event presented by the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation and about two dozen community partners to mark the end of summer, usher in fall, and celebrate diversity in Tacoma.

The 17 students, variously clad in busted-knee jeans, leggings, hiking boots, puffer jackets, and a lone plaid flannel shirt, were pretty quiet for the first 25 minutes as two Washington Supreme Court justices talked about their work to the class Thinking Ethically: What Is Justice? Then it was question time. A hand popped up.