Hello everyone. My name is Eyleen Menchu, and I'm from Guatemala. Currently I'm a student at Whitman college, from the class 2025. I found about Whitman about one year ago, when I was in my last year of high school. So I went to high school at United Work Colleges, Costa Rica, and it was there when I got to know at least of colleges and universities from the United States. And then, I started looking to their website and I found that Whitman had a really nice community and many resources and opportunities. So I started like looking for more about that, and I really like what I found.
When I was looking for a college for the next four years, I wanted to go a place where I could get involved into the community, I could get to know more about the people who are part of the community, and I also wanted to be part of activities, and I wanted to be part of small class classes, so in that way I could get to know the professors and my classmates. So that's some of the things that I was looking for my college, and I took into consideration the environment. For example, here at Whitman, we have a lot of trees, nature. So I really like that.
Since 2016, I'm part of a departmental network called [foreign language 00:01:56], that in English will be the departmental network, Let Girls Lead, in Chittenango , Guatemala, where I'm from. This is a network of 30 girls, adolescents from Chittenango, that are leaders in their communities, in their schools. So in this network we learned from each others, it was then when I learned it about leadership, advocacy, human rights. And in that moment, I got to have experience to work with other people.
Since some years ago, I was volunteering at the network, Let Girls Lead and also in other organizations. I got the chance to get to know more about the stories of people, especially about children and young people. I saw that there was an opportunity, that all these people had potential, had ideas, and I think that if we all work together, we could make really good projects. So I really think that intergenerational work is something really important, and I think that should also apply to politics. And that's why I'm really interested to get to know more about how politics work, how we can get involved in politics, because I think that we all can participate in that and we all should participate in that, because we are all benefited or affected because of politics and the things that are happening around us. So yeah, I really want to learn more about how can I get involved, but also how can I open more spaces, so we can create more projects and involve more people?
When I first came to Walla Walla, I was really excited. It was a long trip of many hours, but in the airport of Seattle, I got to meet some other international students, also first years, that were coming here. So it was just a really nice experience seeing everyone in the airport, and even though we didn't know each other, we knew that we were coming to Whitman, so we started talking about what we were expecting or where we were from. So yeah, just coming here in... The trip that we had from Seattle to Walla Walla was really interesting. So once that we were coming into campus was exciting just to see that actually campus look like in pictures or video. I was really surprised about that, how all the trees, all the buildings and also seeing people, it was really exciting to get to know campus and here, Walla Walla.
It was some weeks ago that I went to a mountain in... Well, I went there because of OPT program, like outdoor program. So, it was a Saturday, and we went to a mountain that's one hour from Whitman, and we went there for snowshoeing. And, it was really interesting, going to the rental shop that Whitman has, and then getting equipment. And I was really excited, because I even had to take sunglasses and I didn't know why I had to take sunglasses, but I got surprised that actually being during the mountain, it was too bright because everything was really white and the sunlight was really strong. So it was a nice experience going snowshoeing with other people and other students from here.
I'm really grateful that I have gotten the chance last semester and part of this second semester to get to know about the professors. I'm really glad that I can talk with them about my experiences, my previous process of learning, but also about my country, especially in politics. I used to go to office hours with the professor, all the professors have office hours here, so we can go and talk with them for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and we can ask questions if something was not clear during class. So I found that having this space to talk with the professors has helped me a lot to grow and to understand better what I have been studying.
Sometimes I think that what we are reading, doesn't mention specifically Guatemala, or the region where I'm from, but we can relate some of the things, or we can even try to compare how that things work. So it's there, the moment when I decided to share, I decided to share my perspective from my country or my experiences. So I'm really grateful that I have that space. And I think that classrooms in the class, it's a space where we can all learn from each other. So I find that really helpful
For fun, I really like to talk with my friends, usually we go to Cleveland Commons, that is like a cafeteria that we have here at Whitman College, and we all get what we like to eat. I usually eat salads because I really love them. And then we'll go to a table, and, especially for dinners, it's a really special moment for me because I get to see my friends and talk with them, catch up how everything's going. And also I really enjoy you go into the music hall, I like to play the guitar, also practice singing. Yeah, the music hall. It's really close to Prentiss Hall, that is where I'm living. So I just have to take my guitar and walk for two or three minutes, and I'm already in the Music Hall, so I can go to a practice room and then play there with my guitar.
Once that I was here and I was choosing all my classes, I saw the option of taking astronomy or geology, which were classes that previously of coming here, I will not have considered. But then I heard that some of my friends took geology, and they told me that they really enjoyed the class, and I was also trying to try something different, something new. So I decided to take geology, and so far I have been enjoying the classes, learning more about how... Yeah, I'm taking environmental geology, so I'm learning how things work like with nature, mountains, earthquakes. So I really have been enjoying that.
Well, after Whitman, I would like to continue working to help other people, especially children and young people. I'm really looking forward to working in an international organization and also to keep working for my country Guatemala, because I think that's why I'm studying politics, and I'm taking these classes to learn how to contribute and how to open other opportunities, and I hope that I can keep doing that. I'm Eyleen Menchu and this has been "Why Whitman: My Story." There are more episodes of "Why Whitman: My Story" available right now, wherever you get your podcast. For more information, go to Whitman.edu/stories.
Music for this episode provided by the band Wind Up Birds, which is made up entirely of current Whitman College students.