News Release (December 12, 1974) TESC first officially admitted student discusses his experience at TESC
Item
-
Identifier
-
Release_1973-1974_1974-537
-
Title
-
News Release (December 12, 1974) TESC first officially admitted student discusses his experience at TESC
-
Date
-
21 December 1974
-
extracted text
-
The Evergreen State College
NEWS
Olympia. Washington
for further information
Judy Annis, 866-6128
for immediate release
December 21, 1974
Bart
(Lee) Vandegrift
it ever opened.
98505
of Mercer
Island was sold on The Evergreen
That's why he became Evergreen's
first officially
State College
admitted
before
student back
in 1971.
A nearly
straight-A
an interdisciplinary
student, he spent his senior year at Mercer
honors humanities
work rather than a grade.
of the program
rewards
amphas Lz ed the
Lch
He found that he thri~ed on the intense
and could succeed very well on his own without
rqua
Lf.t
y of the student's
learning
atmesp~ere
what he calls "the false
of grades."
"We worked
says.
prog ram-wh
Island High School in
around the clock, studying
seven days a week, because we wanted
"It was a turning point in my life --- a time when I discovered
to," he
that learning
has
its own reward."
Vandegrift
said he heard about Evergreen
and thought
it resembled
the humanities
program.
"Evergreen
current,
seemed to me to offer an interdisciplinary
relevant
phere unhindered
issues," he says.
by administrative
approach
directed
toward
"It seemed, too, to have an intense learning
structure
and traditional
emphases
on majors
and
so badly that he waited
for
atmos-
minors."
Vandegrift
materials
returned
says he wanted to go to the new college
from Olympia
every day "and as soon as they came I filled them out and
them to the Post Office within
Haste was not waste
for the now 21-year-old
the first student officially
the first four Evergreen
degrees
ten minutes."
admitted
pioneers
Mercer
to Evergreen
Islander.
In 1971, he became
and, three years later, he is among
those students who've completed
their college
solely at Evergreen.
In those three years Vandegrift's
"In fact," he grins,
"it's increased
enthusiasm
for the college has not diminished.
every quarter."
- mnrp
-
1
2.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Vandegrift of 7201 SE 29th, says he "just can't
imagine having any better program" than he's had the past three years.
As a freshman
in the first year of Evergreen's operation, he enrolled in a Coordinated Studies Program
along with 160 other students and seven faculty members to study the "Individual in
Ame:ri:ca." There, he says, "I got to explore so many different subject materials and
different modes of relating to other people.
It was very intense, but I learned a lot
about myself and how I relate to others."
The program, he says, also helped him decide which subjects he really wanted to
pursue.
He got involved in politics that spring and served as a delegate to the county
and state Democratic conventions.
During summer, 1972, he worked in
u.s.
Senator Warren
Magnuson's office as an intern and he returned in the fall to give more academic attention
to "Politics, Values and Social Change," another Coordinated Studies program.
"The program was a second turning point for me," he comments.
of the history of the Western world.
"It made sense out
It taught me where our cutlure originated, why
it's the way it is, and helped us all understand better what things can or can't be
changed within our society and why."
The program, he adds, "left me gasping for an additional understanding of economics."
So, he and a group of students organized a group study contract and spent two quarters
engrossed in all aspects of economics.
"By the time I'd finished that program, I felt I had gotten what I wanted out
of college," he recalls.
"I felt I then deserved a chance to just study what I wanted."
So, Vandegrift spent Spring and Summer quarters, 1974, studying ancient and modern
European history on an individual basis with two faculty historians.
Finally, his last quarter, the Mercer Islander decided he wanted to take a closer
look at teaching at the high school level.
"I'd been thinking about teaching," he says, "but I wanted to get an inside view."
So, despite the fact he had only three months of college work to go, Vandegrift agreed
to a ninewmonth internship· with the E±nco]tt Evening School and Community School,
- more -
both headquartered at Lincoln High and sponsored by Seattle School District No.1.
He says working as an administrative assistant in the two programs provided the
opportunity he sought to see what schools are like and weigh his future involvement
in teaching.
And, he grins, "I've applied for law school."
Vandegrift enjoys the school experience, he's quick to add, and will continue
working at Lincoln until his internship is over, even though he's already completed
degree requirements at Evergreen.
Looking ahead, he's anxious for law school next fall.
"My theory is that Evergreen has prepared me tremendously well for law school,"
he says.
"Now I want to put that theory to the test."
-30-
