Holly VanVoorhis

Major(s): English, Minor in French & Francophone Studies, Concentration in Global Studies

Why You Chose Whitman

Coming from Spokane, I was looking for a campus that felt like it could become somewhere I called home, and I found that in the familiar Inland Northwest landscape here in Walla Walla. I also knew that I wanted to live somewhere that was different enough from my hometown that I could explore new (to me) places and meet people who I might not otherwise interact with in the comfort of Spokane. Whitman also appealed to me as a prospective student because of its small class sizes. The high school I attended was almost twice the size of our student body here in Walla Walla, and I sometimes felt like I was lost in the crowd. Now, I enjoy the one-on-one conversations I have with my professors and feel like the small campus grants me the academic support I was looking for as a prospective student. Whitman also has a strong English department with a variety of courses and professors who are passionate about their and their students' academic interests. Ultimately, the location, individualized support, and courses offered led me to choose Whitman.

Favorite Things To Do in Walla Walla

When I'm not interviewing someone for the student newspaper or catching up on coursework, I love walking through the neighborhoods surrounding campus or grabbing an iced coffee in downtown Walla Walla. The neighborhoods around campus are filled with friendly cats, public parks, and manicured lawns, so there is always something to look at on walks. Aside from a plethora of tasting rooms, downtown Walla Walla is also home to two of my favorite coffee shops, Carte Coffee and Coffee Perk, both of which are perfect for studying, people-watching, or catching up with friends.

Best Class You’ve Taken On Campus

I took an English class called Shifting Grounds in the Spring of my sophomore year here and I often feel like the discussions we had or presentations we shared in the class are still stuck in my head. Throughout the course, the professor guided us through a variety of novels as well as literary critique and theory exploring how migration and exile are expressed within literature by migrant or displaced writers. I found this lens for literary analysis impactful as it was an angle that I had not before considered or heard of, and which continues to impact the way that I think about borders, identity, and the writing process.

Favorite Campus Traditions

I love the annual Withycombe Film Festival hosted by the Film & Media Studies (FMS) department in Hunter Conservatory’s Kimball Theater every Spring. Students crowd into one of the oldest buildings on campus and squeeze into rows of chairs beneath a stained glass ceiling to watch their peers’ semester-long film projects. Seeing friends and familiar faces projected onto the big screen is always exciting, and, after a semester of scheming up scripts and editing video footage, the festival feels like a final reveal of the films the department has been working on throughout the semester.