By: Abbey Raynes
Every student has a story to tell. Inspired by Humans of New York, I was fascinated by Western’s multi-faceted, ever-changing community that expands boundaries every single day. Whether it be the challenges we wake up to each morning, or the songs we listen to on the bus ride to campus, we are more alike than we all like to believe. Over the years, it has become way easier to shut people out, not make eye contact with one another, overproduce superficial conversation with strangers, and close ourselves off from those we don’t know. Yet, there seems to be a need for connection within Western’s community, and just across the world in general. There has been a recent lack of vulnerability and connection, and that has become more notable and present, as people are losing what it means to be ‘authentically human’.
Every student at WWU attends the university for a reason. Depending on what their reasoning is, the matter of fact is we all face the same issues, challenges, and triumphs being here. Even if most of us are strangers to each other, we share the beauty of being here all at once, at this current moment. We all walk the same halls, sit at the same tables, drink the same coffees– we are ALL a part of the collective whole, despite many not feeling that way.
Because of this, I wanted to break the mold and create something that allowed a space for people to be their complete selves, while sharing their own personal accounts. Venturing out onto the greens of campus by myself, I took my camera and apprehensively scanned my surroundings, looking for individuals who wouldn’t shun me away. It was in that moment when I began to question myself and the reason why I was doing this, considering I would have to walk up to random people and hope they wouldn’t reject my idea on the spot. However, once I finally hyped myself up, the anxiety washed away as I began conversing with the folks I skittishly approached because they reminded me why I did this project in the first place. Everyone’s eagerness to help out boosted my own motivation to continue, especially when they were equally as vulnerable, sharing their own anecdotes. Asking each person a different question to prompt a conversation [like Humans of New York], listen to the stories of the folks that make WWU, WWU.
Bex Oaster
Bex Oaster sitting down, smiling with a coffee cup in their hand. Abbey Raynes // Wavelength
“I am a freshman, so I’m new to college. My biggest fear is I’m going into a stem major, so I am consistently worried that I’m not smart enough, I’m not good enough, I don’t have the talent or what it takes, so that’s just kind of an overlapping general fear and anxiety of mine right now. I’d like to do marine and coastal science, but it’s a pretty exclusive major. So then, maybe environmental science with a marine emphasis. I just registered for classes for next quarter, so that’s when more of the prereqs start, like I’ve got my first lab class next quarter which I’m excited about. But it’s mostly just the math and then the environment of being a woman in stem and just the sort of anxiety. With that, it’s more of like my own ability—the fear of letting myself down. But it’s like as long as I’m proud of what I’m doing, I know that it doesn’t matter. But it’s still like—you know, your brain tells you things, and you listen cause it’s your brain, and it’s what’s there.”
Jorge Campos Rodriguez & Carlos Campos
[Left] Jorge Campos Rodriguez and [Right] Carlos Campos posing with a thumbs up, looking at the camera. Abbey Raynes // Wavelength
“[Carlos] Cristiano Ronaldo—SIUU! [Jorge] Probably Lionel Messi. He’s the G.O.A.T, he’s inspired me since I was born. 2007 and above, he’s had a good career, so he’s the G.O.A.T. [Carlos] No, he sucks. Ronaldo’s better. [Jorge] I don’t agree with his reasoning, but Messi’s way better. [Carlos] No, I don’t agree with his reasoning either.”
Colby Rand, Eva Kuznetsov, Chris Reid & Valerie Campbell
[From left to right] Colby Rand, Eva Kuznetsov, Chris Reid & Valerie Campbell huddled in a group pose, smiling to the camera, in the middle of Red Square. Eva is holding a sign that says, “Love your job, but hate the pay?” Abbey Raynes // Wavelength
“[Colby] I would say the hardest part is probably time management because I feel like there’s always 1000 things I need to do, every single day. Then always trying to prioritize what needs to get done first, what I can wait a little bit longer for, there’s just always just so much to do. [Eva] Finances. I am a firs-gen student, I am a first-gen American. I have no money. I’m trying really hard. [Chris] The finances, dealing with the balance between school and work and life and how Western seems kind of indifferent to us on all of those. There’s a lack of support, I think in all of those areas. That’s why we’re forming a union, right? It’s to negotiate for a say in our working conditions, better pay, better working conditions, and just like more support. I think everybody should have the means they need to go to college and get through without having to work four jobs and eat just beans and rice. [Valerie] I don’t know if I can top that, but I think the most important thing is just being able to balance—like Chris said it— with work, school, and personal life and you know, friendships and all that too. Trying to manage that all the time can be really exhausting.”
Tekhia Jones
Tekhia Jones smiling to the camera, while standing near Old Main with orange leaves in the background. Abbey Raynes // Wavelength
“I would say that my proudest moment has been starting my own freelance business and getting to kind of capture people and their flow states with concert photography, and also did some graduation photos as well. I think that that would definitely be my proudest moment. My business is called ‘Real Sh!t Collective’ with an exclamation point, so technically it’s not ‘sh*t’. I do graphic design, logo design, branding, photography—a bunch of different stuff. I think I just had so many ideas in my head like, I want to do this, and I also want to do that, and all of [it] would be able to fall under the umbrella of my own kind of brand. It just made more sense, as opposed to thinking about all these different ideas. It’s like okay, why am I just saying I want to do something, instead of just doing it type of thing.”
Tru Meyer
Tru Meyer sitting down near Red Square, smiling to the camera. Abbey Raynes // Wavelength
“To be honest, I’m a rot in bed type when I’m sad, so I’ve been having a hard time. I’ve just been in my bed contemplating, why I’m here and if I even belong here. I grew up in Everett and it’s a really cliquey town and it is lower income where I used to live, and I grew up like that. Now I’m here, and it’s super liberal and my vibe and everything, but I still feel like I don’t fit in yet. So, it’s like coming to terms with where I’m living and growing up, and it’s real scary. My parents didn’t go to college, my dad didn’t graduate high school. So, I know that I have to be here and it’s kind of, ‘Do I want to be here, or do I have to?’ And just getting up every morning, you have to be here because you want to be here, because I want to be a teacher. And if I don’t get my teaching degree—if I don’t do that, then I can’t have that influence on kids that I want to have, that I didn’t have growing up. So, getting up in the morning’s like, you have to do this to be the person you want to be in the future.”