Healing Gardens

My name is Dana Gilbert and I am a sophomore at The Evergreen State College. This is my second year living in Olympia, and I am in love with this town! I was born in Oregon but moved to Wenatchee, Washington when I was eight years old. I am an only child but have a very large extended family. My parents are two of my closest friends and I love them very dearly. My mom is an elementary school teacher, and my dad is an RN and administrator at the Wenatchee Valley Clinic. I’m not sure exactly what my heritage is, but I did just find out from my grandmother over winter break that I am a distant cousin to Johnny Cash, so that’s got to earn me some points, right? I have enjoyed college at Evergreen, for the most part. My freshman year I was in a program called Growing up Global, which was about the evolution of youth through out history. It was a really good class and I learned a lot from my teacher, Stephanie Coontz. The rest of my quarters I have been taking strictly academic courses, from US History to Physics. This is the first quarter that I have taken a class that involves more hands-on experience. I chose to take Healing Gardens because I plan to become a teacher and I would like to teach students about the nature that surrounds them. So many people, including myself, are disconnected with nature and I want to help bring that back to public schools. As far as me as a person goes, I’m a pretty fun loving girl. I like to spend time with my friends and family. I am the biggest cake lover you will meet. Any kind of cake, I love it all! I also am really into knitting. My roommate taught me last year and I’ve been enthralled with knitting ever since.