(Photo courtesy of Ben Hernried)

Freshman Focus Q&A: Outdoorsy freshman rock climbs, joins ski team at Whitman College

Ben Hernried, ‘13, has just begun his freshman year at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. He plans on majoring in psychology, possibly with a minor or a double major in astronomy.

 Q: What extracurricular activities are you participating in?

A: I’ve been doing a lot of rock-climbing. I’ve been climbing outside at this place called Spring Rocks. It’s a giant slab of rock, kind of in the forest area. It’s quite nice. I also do back-country skiing and am on the ski team at Whitman. And I’m part of the pre-health organization.

 Q: What’s your favorite class?

A: “Intro to Psychology.” It’s super interesting. The teacher is really cool. He sounds a bit like Gru from “Despicable Me” (he’s Bulgarian).

 Q: What has surprised you about your school?

A: The weather is a bit strange. When I first came it was as hot as Sacramento, but lately it has been raining a bit. It transitions a lot, which I was not expecting. I didn’t know that it could be super hot up here or that the weather would be sporadic.

 Q: What did you do for orientation?

A: We had a pre-orientation event in addition to orientation. For the pre-orientation we had this thing called a Scramble, when we went kayaking for a week in the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington. The actual orientation was all right. We had lots of activities and bonding time. There were a couple of seminars and guest speakers, as well.

 Q: Any advice for the class of ‘14?

A: Apply to a fair amount of schools and find a school that you fall in love with.

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