Student commutes 290 miles every day to avoid being a Husky
-Bzzt-Bzzt-Bzzt- Your alarm is going off at 7 a.m. for your first class of the day. For most students, a 7 a.m. wake up call means an early morning 8 or 9 a.m. class. For Maureen Mullins, 7 a.m. is the latest she can wake up in order to make it to her 11 a.m. lecture at WSU Vancouver.
Mullins began communication classes at WSU Vancouver during the 2018 summer semester and has commuted to and from the campus at least two days a week since. This semester, Mullins makes the trek from Kent, Washington to the Vancouver campus every school day.
Mullins grew up in Kent, 19 miles south of Seattle, where she has lived for about 22 years. “We love Seattle,” Mullins said. “We’re looking for the perfect place [near Vancouver] and that just doesn’t exist.”
Mullins’ father, a retired Seattle construction worker, drives the family the roughly three hours south Monday through Friday. While Mullins is in classes, her parents visit her sister and on Monday and Wednesday, take care of their granddaughter (Mullins’ niece). “They [Mullins parents] wanted me to have a good education,” Mullins said. “They also want to be close to my sister, which is why I chose here.”
When asked why she chooses not to stay with her sister during the week, Mullins said she does not like to drive and her sister does not have the time to drive her [Mullins] to school. Along with this, Mullins said her sister has a small apartment with little to no extra room.
Mullins said the commute has not directly impacted her education, but that she does miss the extra activities she used to do. “There’s a lot of downfalls to driving,” Mullins said. “I used to play the piano, I don’t have time to do that. I’m an artist, I don’t have time to draw.”
Before WSU Vancouver, Mullins studied at Green River College in Auburn, Washington, a city just five miles south of Kent. While there, Mullins took an interpersonal communication class and loved the content of the class and the professor who taught it. She decided to pursue a communications degree, but with one stipulation: not at the University of Washington.
Her desire for a smaller school is one reason Mullins decided against the University of Washington. She said during her UW campus tour she felt the campus and faculty had less of a connection with the students.
“I don’t want to go to UDUB [University of Washington]. It’s a big school and zero camaraderie. You’re just another face in the crowd.”
– Maureen Mullins
“My teacher [at Green River], she mastered at WSU and she went to UW for communications, and she said WSU is the better communication [school]. If you want to do communication, go to WSU,” Mullins said. “And I didn’t want to go to Pullman, so I chose Vancouver.”
Mullins said she likes smaller schools. This is why she decided to commute the long three hours to Vancouver every day rather than live on campus in Pullman or attend University of Washington. Plus, she said, “My sister lives in Portland, so Vancouver seemed like the best choice.”
When asked why she chooses to commute rather than taking classes online or attending a different school closer to home, she expressed her adoration of the WSU Vancouver community.
“When I first came here, everyone was super-duper nice,” Mullins said. “I like how [the community] is small and I literally know everyone.”
On top of her classes, Mullins is a member of the Public Relations Society of America club at WSU Vancouver. She plans to continue being active in the club and in classes until she graduates, whether or not her family decides to move to the area.
From commute to classroom, every student has a different story. Mullins’ story of being a Vancoug means a 290 mile drive, nearly every day.