Changemakers Wanted

More than Puget Sound’s motto, To the Heights reflects our motivation to challenge ourselves and those around us to reach upward together. We are committed to making the world around us a better place by creating a supportive, welcoming environment filled with diverse ideas, perspectives, histories, and experiences.

Community is a core value of Puget Sound. Loggers come from a variety of backgrounds, but are connected by the intention of forging a new path, making the most of adventures, leading by understanding, and communicating with others.

VIVIE NGUYEN, director for intercultural engagement

“We’re asking for students that want to be changemakers,” offers Vivie Nguyen, director for intercultural engagement. “You’re changing yourself to change your environment.” That change often starts in the Center for Civic and Intercultural Engagement (CICE), a resource for students looking to explore their spirituality through religious tradition, connect with nonprofit and community organizations, and learn more about their own identity and the identity of others. Located in the Yellow House, a space named for its distinctive color, CICE opens doors to campus-wide exchange of ideas, exploration of other perspectives, and engagement in experiences that build understanding among diverse students and faculty. CICE also supports student-led events and programs throughout the year and offers spaces for students to have conversations on issues of social justice, marginalization, and intersectionality.

Wednesdays @ 6, for example, are CICE-hosted campus dialogues where students can explore topics of race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and disability. Volunteer and service opportunities are available with local organizations focused on K-12 education, adult literacy and English language tutoring, ecological and environmental advocacy, food justice, women’s rights, and other causes.

CICE staff serve our diverse student body to support all aspects of their individual and shared identities. Vivie offers expertise in addressing interests in racial identity, sexual orientation, and gender identity, while Dave Wright ’96, university chaplain and director for spiritual life and civic engagement, focuses on religious and spiritual life, and Skylar Marston-Bihl ’08 specializes in community outreach.

“Our work is more about helping any and all students critically engage themselves, the campus, and the world we live in,” adds Dave. “This means taking into account who you are and who you are becoming; asking hard questions of yourself and the communities you come from; being willing to not just engage with something but to wonder how you can best be engaged, or what types of engagement feel right for your heart, mind, and spirit.”

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Learn more at PUGETSOUND.EDU/CICE

“What can we do for each other to mutually learn and to create an environment where you and I both belong?”

CICE supports students individually and in groups. Many identity-based student groups, such as Latinx Unidx, the Black Student Union, LGBTQ+ groups, and University Methodists, meet in the Student Diversity Center and Social Justice Center House, across from the Yellow House. The conversations and events at the Yellow House and across campus are designed to ask critical questions about what it means to live and learn among people with different opinions and ideas.

“It’s not enough for [someone] to say I ‘like’ someone, but what can we do for each other to mutually learn and to create an environment where you and I both belong?” Vivie says. “We’re calling for students who want to be better and want to make the world a better place.” To do that, Vivie suggests, “I have to understand how I show up, how I talk, the privileges and opportunities that I have and those I don’t have—same for you—and how that situates us differently in this world.”

Dave summarizes the value of a diverse community: “Critical engagement at Puget Sound, at its best, involves living in the tension of knowing and honoring yourself, your culture, your identities,” Dave says. “[And at the same time], being willing to question those things, stretch yourself, and be mindful of how you move through the world.”

DAVE WRIGHT ’96, university chaplain and director of spiritual life

Most students who choose Puget Sound share a passion for exploring the world from vantage points different from their own, as well as a desire to contribute their own viewpoints. Our celebration of community stems from the value we see in the power of these perspectives. The importance of discovering and contributing your voice to our conversations makes learning deeper and richer and strengthens relationships that can shape not only your life, but the lives around you.

How will your experiences continue to take Puget Sound to the heights?