Meet Maren Strand.
Maren is a freshman at Williams and is a member of the sailing team. She grew up in Bozeman, Montana. As my roommate and close friend, Maren is definitely someone worth knowing at Williams with her compassion, great sense of humor, and fascinating life experiences. This week I decided to give Her Campus the gift of an interview with the Maren Strand.
How is your semester going? What is your favorite class that you’re taking?
“My favorite class is my comparative literature class called Revolutions and Counter Revolutions in Latin America and the Middle East, but it’s also my most challenging class which I’ve found to be a trend here at Williams because last semester my two hardest classes were also my two favorite and most rewarding classes. So, definitely the ones that stretch me are the most rewarding.”
What are you involved in on campus or interested in joining?
“Well, first off, I’m on the sailing team, it’s a blast. I’m definitely interested in joining more activities and groups of people whether it’s like a club sport or a club or something else, but I feel like that’s not very common at Williams to have really involved clubs or people that are really committed to clubs. The ones that I’ve tried haven’t really given me the community that I’m hoping for, so I’m still on the search.”
Why did you decide to come to Williams?
“I spent the night with a student here, a stranger, and we were just so similar. And I just fell in love, like the way she was talking about her classes was amazing. And I was here for her entry snacks and I just loved that community feature that I feel like other schools don’t have.”
You took a gap year last year, where did you go and for how long each?
“I went to India, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. I was in each place more or less for three and a half months, although Cuba just for a week and a half.”
What was the best part of your year abroad?
“I would say, looking back, the best part was that I grew so much as a person and became more independent, became more social, I think I learned a lot of skills on how to interact with people that aren’t necessarily like me. How to be more open minded and how to be aware of my own preconceptions or privilege or orientalism or all of those sort of things.”
How would you describe the social justice scene on campus?
“I feel like there’s not a ton of casual fighting for social justice but I do think that culturally we’re also not working against it. People are very aware of what they are saying, and they get called out if they say something not politically correct or is hurtful, but I would say that it’s not an incredibly social justice active campus. But I’m also not really actively involved in those clubs.”
Do you know what you want to do beyond college?
“No.”
Where is some place that you would love to visit or live in the future?
“I would love to live in Amsterdam because I just think it’s like the coolest place, but I would love to visit Egypt and/or Morocco.”
And last question, you’re a new addition to the Crayola crayon box. What color would you be and why?
“Well, recently, they have eliminated yellow from their crayon box, it’s called dandelion, and they’re eliminating it and they’re making a new color, a blue color, and they said that once they released the color they are going to ask for help to decide what to name it. But all these people have come up with crayon names recently and they’re really funny, one is called “white privilege”, another one is like “cheeto dust orange”, one is like “pussy pink” or “feminist pussy pink” or something, and it’s really funny. But if I were a color I would definitely be maroon, like a sort of like purply maroon, because that’s just like my color. Everyone at home was just like “oh that’s your color”. It’s the color that like I am.”