Welcome to my portfolio! My name is Anna Williams, and I am a 22-year-old freshman (as of 2016) at Portland State University. I am currently deciding between a communications and community development major, with the goal of going to grad school for journalism. I am in Jeff Gerwing's Sustainability Freshman Inquiry Class, with Stephanie Clark as my mentor.

 

My dream is to write for a tiny Portland newspaper and raise a couple of kids (but not before our cats grow up a bit more). As of February 2017, I started writing for the Portland State Vanguard. I have written 25 articles to date. Most of them can be viewed here! I now market myself officially as a freelance writer, and am employed by one writing/editing website and on the freelance list for a small SE Portland newspaper. 

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I am married to my sweet husband Michael, who I met three years ago when we were getting our Certified Nursing Assistant licenses. I recently quit my job as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at a psychiatric unit in Milwaukie, OR. I spent two year prior working with medically fragile children. Initially I wanted to become a nurse, but it was clear when I started my major at Concordia University in Portland in 2015 that it just wasn't my calling. I switched to Chemistry, then took a life-changing writing class out in the Portland community, and now I have switched my major at least 3 times.

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I chose to join the Sustainability Freshman Inquiry class because as a social-justice oriented woman with worries for the future under our current government, sustainability matters to me. I used to be one of only two students on the faculty-run Sustainability Action Committee at my high school, and I really wanted to re-light my passion for sustainable living and educating the public. I've loved the class so far, and I've learned so much about food systems, pollution, and what other students are doing to reduce their footprints. Please read more in my reflection letters.