Oskar Sunderland ’23

Oskar Sunderland ’23
Oskar Sunderland ’23

Seattle

Major: Graphic Design


Why did you choose Goshen?

Goshen is sort of a family school for me, I’m a fourth generation student here and many relatives on my mother’s side live in the area. I toured Goshen as a prospective student and absolutely loved it.

I was on the fence for a while because I wasn’t sure if I was interested in any of the majors here, but ultimately I decided that my personal well-being should come before what I choose to study. As such, I chose Goshen.

Why did you choose your major? 

Graphic design was not my major when I first started as a first-year. However, making the switch for me had to do with my personal history of toying around with programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, and even the very limiting Microsoft Paint as a teenager.

I attended a STEM high school in Seattle, where I took engineering classes every year involving the CAD software Autodesk Inventor. I also took a couple classes in high school such as Multimedia and Video Production, which not only piqued my interest in graphic design but also gave me the ability to fine tune my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator.

What career are you interested in pursuing?

I have always been interested in architecture, which I became even further interested in with the CAD modeling I did as a high schooler. I have also always loved geography and could talk for hours on end about it, but I probably won’t be employed in that field just because of its irrelevance with my major.

What is a valuable experience you have had at Goshen?

Getting to go on trips for the May term course Indigenous Economies this year was a very valuable experience, for two reasons.

One, because the exploration of the Northern Indiana area as someone not from the Midwest was very revealing as to how an otherwise boring state could also be full of beautiful spaces and excellent outdoor opportunities, and of course stimulated my love for geography.

Second, I consider myself fairly passionate about social justice but I am also very unaware of the struggles and history of Indigenous peoples as a result of my lack of exposure; so getting to learn hands-on from speakers about their culture, past and present, was very eye opening towards an aspect of social justice that I hadn’t been exposed to much before. I believe a large part of becoming more accepting and less ignorant is to hear others out on their lives, even if you can’t fully empathize, which is why this class very much so helped with my understanding of Indigenous communities.