It has been a sincere honor watching Peyton thrive and grow in her roles within our organization this year and it’s with HUGE pride that we say “congratulations Peyton! You did it!” Peyton is graduating this summer from Western Washington University, completing her internship with us, and is starting a brand new career adventure! Peyton has been pivotal in our organization’s success in incorporating new workshops with DVR, virtually mentoring students, and tackling some of the less glamorous tasks such as grant-writing and data entry. In fact, Peyton shines in everything she does, and constantly leaves us in awe as we watcher her lead and organize many teams with confidence. Peyton is also fun (serious Skribbl.io skills), a great team player, and someone who currently does and will continue to do amazing work in our community. We sat down with Peyton to talk more about this giant milestone and her thoughts on everything from feelings of completion to next steps. We are so excited to cheer on Peyton as she takes her next steps into her career and know we will see the wake of her impact in our community for years to come.
Q: First of all, how does it feel to have reached this huge accomplishment?
Every time I reflect back on all that I have accomplished and have done over the past two years it feels surreal. It has all become a blur but standing where I am right now I am feeling happy, energized, and excited about where life is going to take me next.
Q: What advice would you give other students who are either thinking about college or in the process of completing a degree?
For those thinking about college, please do not listen to the societal pressures to jump into a program that you do not feel fits what you want to do. Community college is a great place to try something new and discover what might fit best for you, and even if that doesn’t provide answers, there is no shame in taking time off to figure out your next steps. Knowing that you have your life ahead of you to try multiple careers and new things takes the pressure off and allowed me to enjoy the process and know that human services was the right major for me.
Q: What did you wish you would have known as you navigated higher education?
I wish I would have known all my different options for financial aid and what supports were out there within the school systems to not feel alone. Being an only child with not a lot of support on navigating higher education, I had to search far and wide for answers and stumbled hard along the way figuring everything out. FAFSA is something that allowed me to pursue education and I learned about that through friends.
Q: How did completing your Financial Aid application help you reach your goals?
I would not have been able to pay for school without Financial Aid. Although it still means loans it means that I was able to shoot my shot and go for a career that I didn’t know was even possible.
Q: What will you miss the most about college?
The community. Covid really shook up the dynamics of the classroom and the college experience, but all the amazing people that I have met along the way and the community that we have built is something that cannot be recreated.
FNW Teammates Stefanie, Peyton and Cynthia jump for joy, graduating this Spring and Summer from WWU.
Q: What is a favorite memory you have from your time at FuturesNW?
My favorite memories from FuturesNW are our team meetings and Fun Time Fridays. The amounts of love, joy, and laughter that we shared made me feel less alone and made me feel that I was doing what I was meant to be doing. That leads me to a specific memory where I was helping a student in Tuesday Pathways Support where I was helping her figure out how to sign up for classes and see what registration looked like at WCC, and that is when it clicked for me that my passion is to work in enrollment and admissions at a Community College.
Q: What’s your next chapter looking like?
My next chapter will definitely include working with underrepresented populations in some capacity whether that be career exploration, basic housing and food support, education pathways, you name it. I love working with high school students and college students and I hope to be working with this population for a long time to come. They are our future, how amazing is that!
