Thursday, May 23, 2024

Feature by: Noah Leavitt, College Liaison for Community Affairs

Photo: Whitman students cooling off at Memorial Pool during the 2023 Summer Fly-In.

Our place knows how to enjoy summer vacation. Long days and no school mean that it’s time to take full advantage of the valley. 

For this final column of the academic year, it seems appropriate to appreciate what summer in Walla Walla offers. Whether you will be in Walla Walla for a day or the entire summer, you have myriad opportunities to enjoy our community. 

Whitties know a lot about this topic: Alyssa Ortiz ’22 shared lovely reflections about a summer spent here. Bertine Lakjohn ’23, too, offers terrific advice.

I am also grateful to my adventuresome and generous colleagues who shared ideas, wisdom and insider knowledge.

Susan Prudente (Development): “Veterans Memorial Pool is an affordable and great place to gather and cool off with friends as well as to get in a cardio workout in the lap lanes while soaking up vitamin D.” 

Baker Weilert-Pekar (Debate) mentioned activities including live music at Tranche, Walla Walla Sweets baseball games and the Downtown Concert Series.

Colette Marie (Academic Resource Center) suggested the annual Juneteenth celebration, Farmer's Market, and productions by the Walla Walla Symphony, Little Theatre and Gesa Power House Theatre.

Read more.

This week, you may notice a new name for the street that lines the new Junior-Senior Housing Village. Marcus Street has been renamed for Nancy Bell Evans ’54. 

Evans was an alumni leader at Whitman for more than 30 years—serving as an overseer and a trustee, serving on a presidential search committee, and creating an endowed chair and a music scholarship that bears her name.

Evans credited her time as a music major at Whitman for developing her leadership role in the Seattle arts. Evans taught elementary school music teacher, helped form a concert series in Olympia and was an active member of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Board and Benaroya Hall Music Center Board, as well as other organizations. She created the docent program at the Washington State Capitol Museum and was a lifelong activist for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities.

Evans was also Washington’s first lady. Her husband, Dan Evans, served three terms as Washington State governor (1965–1977) and one term as a U.S. senator (1983–1989). She created the nonprofit “Governor’s Mansion Foundation” in 1972 to preserve the historic governor’s mansion for future generations.

President Sarah Bolton said of Nancy Bell Evans: “She embodied the spirit of lifelong leadership, dedication and service that is at the heart of Whitman’s character and made a tremendous and lasting impact for our college and its students.”

Evans passed away in January. You will see a new sign for Nancy Evans Way in the coming days.

The Outdoor Program (OP) Rental Shop is now operating on summer hours:

Printing and Mailing is now operating on summer hours:

Jewett Cafe will open on Monday, June 3 for summer meal service weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cleveland Commons will be closed most of the summer, opening temporarily on Friday, July 19, July 27–Aug. 4 and Friday, Aug. 9 to accommodate visiting groups to campus. If you would like to use meeting spaces in Cleveland Commons, email General Manager Shannon Null. Bon Appétit catering will remain available throughout the summer. 

The Baker Ferguson Fitness Center is currently closed, but will open for summer hours on Monday, June 3:

As a reminder, Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, is a Whitman College staff holiday and many offices will be closed. Whitman Today will be published on Tuesday and Thursday next week.

As part of the lifecycle program, a crane will be used on campus next week to lift some equipment to the roof of the Hall of Science. Work will start early on Tuesday, May 28. A few parking stalls will be temporarily available. Cones will be set up around the crane for safety.

The Whitman College calendar is quiet this weekend. If you are looking for something to do in the community, explore the Visit Walla Walla calendar of events.

Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.

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