Evianne Potts is a senior at Sonoma State University. She is a psychology major with a focus in marriage and family therapy and would like to go to grad school at some point after taking a gap year. She likes everything spooky and her personal motto is that Halloween isn’t a holiday, it’s a lifestyle.
HC: Where are you from?
EP: I’m from Redding, California but I was raised in Maryland, which I would like to go back and visit. I was born in Redding and then I moved when I was 10 because my dad was serving in the military. I went to preschool on an army base, which was an interesting experience. Sometimes I think my dad knows about extraterrestrial interaction with the US because he follows conspiracy theories and says there are “things he can’t tell us.”
HC: Do you miss Maryland or Redding & what do you miss about them?
EP: Maryland holds a lot of nostalgia for me because I haven’t been back for 10 years. I miss Redding because I miss the artistic community I became a part of. I was a part of a few clubs including the Rad Girls which is basically a feminist girl gang & Ask A Queer, which I’m sad I can’t participate in while I’m at school.
HC: Why did you decide to go into psychology? EP: Mental health has always been really important to me. Like I said, I’ve struggled with anxiety and I’ve been in therapy since I was young. I’m passionate about mental health because I’ve dealt with it personally and I want to help reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Working with adolescents in Santa Rosa has been really insightful for me because and addressing mental health in an educational setting where the disparity between cultures and the lack of resources for the hispanic/latinx community in general has too.
HC: What’s been your favorite class at Sonoma & why?
EP: Definitely an intro to counseling course that I took last semester with Dr. Maria Hess because I was able to actually apply theories within clinical psychology with my peers and it opened my eyes to the intensity of the profession and how profoundly fulfilling it was.
HC: What is your favorite part of Sonoma as a transfer student?
EP: The size of the campus creates a more intimate setting between students and I feel like there is a lot of community involvement. I had a really hard time as a transfer student because it was difficult to engage with people due to my anxiety. I found a great community within my major and getting to know people with similar passions about mental health and helping each other grow really made me feel at home at Sonoma. I also like how the Psychology department was founded on humanistic psychology and it focuses on holistic techniques and modalities of healing.
HC: What clubs are you involved in on campus?
EP: I joined Psichi last fall and I’m a new recruit for The Vagina Monologues. For those who don’t know, Psichi is the international honors society for psychology that focuses on mental health advocates and sees how they can contribute to the community in that aspect. Vagina Monologues is a club of all women that puts on a play at the end of February to raise money for Verity, the only rape crisis center in Sonoma county. I’m so pumped to be around a strong community of women and to talk about important issues such as sexual assault and inequalities in our community. Doing such through the arts is a great way to talk about it and I appreciate it.
HC: What is your background in the arts?
EP: I’ve being doing theater and theater workshops since I was seven years old. I’ve done multiple productions such as Aida and Music Man and I was in choir in high school. I once impersonated Sarah Palin my junior of high school in a talent show and won third place. I got $50 in cold hard cash, so obviously, I’m a professional. Art has really helped me to find myself as an individual and given me a lot of confidence to be who I am as a person.