College life often follows established, well-known pathways. Many of us pair our chosen career with its required major and/or minor that we’ve selected from a pre-determined list. But at The Evergreen State College, students shake things up by creating their own unique field of study which combines classes from different disciplines into a degree that best meets their needs.
The school recently improved student opportunities thanks to the addition of new scientific equipment, giving Evergreen’s STEM programming hands-on access to the type of instruments used by researchers, environmental agencies and laboratories in the real world.
New STEM Technology and Equipment Gives Evergreen Students Real World Experience
Funding for this new equipment comes thanks to a Congressionally Directed Spending appropriation championed by Senator Patty Murray, who served as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee at the time. In December 2024, they also received an additional $217,000 from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to enhance the new scanning electron microscope. As part of a federal investment into science education infrastructure, these items will benefit students for generations to come.
Nick Ocheltree, Evergreen’s director of marketing and content strategy, explains that science faculty will instruct students in each instrument’s use “earning [students] certifications that allow them to operate the tools independently for coursework, research projects and senior capstones.”
Scanning the Skies, Forests and Waterways in Real Time
The items have been installed in the on-site science labs as well as campus forests and waterways. Through such environmental monitoring, sensors can document water temperature, oxygen level, stream flow and clarity to study climate change, land usage or ecosystem health.
Equipment in the forests allows for GPS technology mapping of sites, soil moisture monitoring and canopy density scans.
Students can explore the carbon cycle through ecosystems and the atmosphere in real time. And the school’s mycology program benefits from sterile workspaces for cultivation and specialized instrumentation for measuring biological processes.
Congressionally Directed Spending appropriation monies also sponsored multiple new drones for everything from training programs to environmental survey drones and cinematography aircraft.
Making the Invisible Visible thanks to High Tech Systems
Evergreen’s new electron microscope can magnify items more than one million times. “With it,” says Ocheltree, “students can examine the microscopic structures of everything from fungal spores and plant tissues to mineral grains and advanced materials.”
Ocheltree says that they also installed equipment to flash freeze delicate samples like plant tissue, fungi and aquatic microbes “so they can be studied in a state that closely resembles how they exist in nature.”
For chemical analysis, Evergreen’s science lab was expanded with items which can help identify unknown substances or study the behavior of even our smallest molecules. Whether studying molecular structure or scanning waterways for pollution, these machines can separate and identify chemicals in complex mixtures or measure items down to parts-per-trillion.
The Evergreen State College Helps Students Break Through Academic Boundaries
At Evergreen, a student’s degree path echoes the scientific method. They start by exploring more than 40 possible fields of study to broaden knowledge and build key skills. Through refinement—even changing paths along the way—they’re encouraged to dig deep with field experience and community-based learning. Focusing on a capstone project or internship is the highlight of their undergraduate coursework. There are also pre-built paths which have been developed over the years to prepare students for careers or post-graduate study.
Many of Evergreen’s programs encourage learning by doing. With this in mind, the school maintains a five-acre living lab in the form of an organic farm with gardens, beehives, chickens and delicious crops.
For other hands-on training their labs and studios include space for learning about sustainable agriculture, fiber and indigenous arts, computer applications, media services, visual arts and the sciences.
Higher education, especially in the STEM fields, has been globally shown to promote critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving. International studies also show how much hands-on training improves both engagement and motivation.
Technology additions like those at Evergreen not only shake up the traditional STEM curriculum but can result in amazing breakthroughs and developments along the way.
If you’re interested, schedule a visit through their website or sign up for a virtual information session. Group tours can be made by calling 360.867.6494 or emailing visit@evergreen.edu today. Tours take place Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., RSVP in advance. For admissions questions, call 360.867.6170 or email admissions@evergreen.edu.
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