Lindsey Trimmer
Honors Portfolio
Comparative History of Ideas
The summer after freshman year I took a leap of faith and traveled to Munich, Germany with a Comparative History of Ideas’ (CHID) program. From that moment on, I new that I wanted CHID to be a large component of my academic experience as it pushed me to expand by discipline specific thought process and look at new topics through an interdisciplinary perspective. While in Germany, I declared a double major in CHID and journeyed into yet another program at University of Washington.
Honors 395
On my first day of college I walked into my first ever honors class at University of Washington as an intimidated and unknowing freshman. The class, taught by Christina Wygant, focused on the definition of race in Western history (specifically through travel narratives, just like this portfolio!) and how it affects our view of difference today. I chose to include my final presentation for Honors 394 B because it was an assignment I found very daunting at first. I was horrified to present in front of a class that was mostly honors upperclassman and felt as though I did not have the knowledge or presentation ability to succeed. However, this allowed me to push myself; I started to go to Professor Wygant's office hours and spent ample time writing, perfecting and practicing my final essay and presentation. On presentation day I shakily got up and gave my presentation and it went better than I could have ever expected! This presentation was the first time I realized how confident and strong I had become during my first quarter of University of Washington and reaffirmed my belief in the power of work ethic and putting your best foot forward in order to succeed. This class also introduced me to Dr. Wygant, who ended up being a very influential part of my college experience; when I heard of her study abroad to Munich, Germany to study German identity, I knew I couldn’t miss such a fantastic opportunity. I trusted her to take me on my first independent journey of college, outside of the University and into the real, global world.
Junior Colloquium
Professor Maria Elena Garcia's junior colloquium class, "The Politics of Life" expanded discussions of life to included non-human others. This class not only stretched my considerations of life and how my pervious research in political science applied to other non-human beings, but also provided me with an unparalleled progressive and passionate learning environment. I got to write an exploratory essay in which I interviewed my parents and reflected on my time growing up near a university that participates heavily in animal based research and have meaningful class discussions weekly. The individuals in this class truly made the experience, especially our Professor, Maria Elena Garcia. Working with Professor Garcia throughout the quarter was so inspiring and I knew I wanted to continue grappling with these ideas of non-human life from a political perspective. Her class was ultimately my basis for my second thesis and she inspired me to truly jump back into the world of theses and continue my exploration into that form of learning with her traveling by my side.
Senior Thesis
My CHID thesis was the last major project I completed for my majors during my time at UW. This project felt like the culmination of many different facets of my UW journey: I incorporated theories I learned in my first Honors class with Christina Wygant, my background of researching and analyzing laws from Political Science, my interests in the entanglements between humans and the natural world from environmental studies and finding ways to discover the interdisciplinary nature of difficult topics. Exploring all these things together, and revisiting topics I had fallen in love with during my time at UW felt a lot like traveling back to places that left a big impact on my heart. Revisiting a city or country for a second time is a completely different experience – it allows you to understand the place at a new level, appreciate even more aspects of the area and apply new knowledge and life experiences you gain while away to a previous destination. Writing this thesis felt a lot like revisiting homes I and other places I already new I loved and is the project I am most proud of from my time at UW.