Britton Johnson, junior
Q: Why did you pick Western?
A: About a year ago, the president [Bruce Shepard] made a statement about his goals for increasing diversity in enrollment. ... And I wanted to go to a school that had similar views as me, and wanted to accept and promote diversity on its campus.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Western?
A: Campus is really pretty, even if the buildings aren’t super pretty. The area’s really nice, and it’s close to home because my family’s from Bellingham.
Q: What has been your favorite class so far?
A: Liberal Studies 278. It was Islam and historical perspective. My concentration is Islamic religion and Middle Eastern relations, so that was the first class I took [at Western] on Islam. It was really comprehensive and gave a lot of background and my professor was really good. We talked about all the different aspects of Islam culture.
Q: What do you like to do in Bellingham?
A: Usually I go downtown to the used book and music stores [like] Everyday Music, Henderson Books, and Eclipse in Fairhaven is really cool. … I just bought a book about North Cascades National Park that’s really cool. It has pictures from the 70s of people and the mountains.
Q: What’s your best piece of advice for students?
A: Knowing what you have to get done in your major and all those details so you can figure out how to graduate efficiently.
Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
A: I would choose teleportation because what’s better than that?
Q: Where would you go?
A: I would go everywhere because I could get anywhere, but if I were to leave right now, [I would go] to England.
Q: If you weren’t a student, what would you be doing right now?
A: Sitting on the beach reading books.
Q: Where’s the coolest place you’ve traveled to and why?
A: Venice, Italy. The architecture [in] the canals, it’s so beautiful. ... I’ve never been anywhere so beautiful. It’s also really confusing, you can get lost so easily. It’s so different from anywhere that I have ever been before. When I came to Western, I took a class on art history in Venice and the Venetian Renaissance, so that was really cool. We talked a lot about different aspects of their government system and about different architecture and how oil painting got to Venice. It was really cool to learn a lot after having been there.
