Features

By TDOHASAN SUNRAY   Te Papa Tongarewa. Aotearoa (New Zealand’s) National Museum. The facility is immense, and standing beneath it, one can’t help but notice the clash of its sleek, industrial architecture with the handcrafted wooden framing. The building is purposefully Māori by design. Thanks to a travel award through the University’s Politics and Government Department known as the Pohlad Award, I was able to visit the country and, through places like Te Papa, uncover what New Zealand could teach the United States about Indigenous relations. The direct translation of Te...

By CAROLINE EATON   On Sep. 25th, 36 people gathered in Wyatt Hall with the goal of folding a collective 1,000 paper cranes and spreading a message of peace. The group consisted of Puget Sound students and local community members, the first meeting of its kind at the University of Puget Sound.   Puget Sound’s inaugural Cranes for Peace event was organized by student Noah Weatherington (‘27) and sponsored by the Asian Studies Program with support from Japanese professor Mikiko Ludden. In the summer of 2026, Weatherington accompanied Ludden on a research...

By ANJA KENNEDY and SYLVIE HOLMES   For the 2026-2027 academic year, the University of Puget Sound is presenting a new emphasis in AI and Human Values. An announcement was made via Instagram in May, stating: “The University of Puget Sound is launching the Pacific Northwest’s first interdisciplinary AI and Human Values program, centered on developing the ‘other AI’: Actual Intelligence. Rooted in reason, empathy, critical thinking, and human connection, the program prepares students to lead thoughtfully in a rapidly changing world.” The program requires students to take classes in computing...

By WENDY HUANG     Food is an essential part of my life. Growing up in Taiwan, during big community gatherings like the Lunar New Year mid-autumn festival, we gathered as family and friends. Besides warm company, good food is the most important part. While studying abroad in Europe, I got the chance to visit different countries and try authentic local foods, from traditional Scottish sticky toffee pudding to kebab in Istanbul, Turkey. Besides my tasting experiences, my relationship with food is vast; I worked at a restaurant as a...

By GEORGE SLAATS    On Aug. 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) opened the final public comment period on its rescission of the Roadless Rule. This repeal could open 45 million acres of public land across the country, an area roughly the same size as all of Washington State, to build roads, logging, mining and other natural resource extraction.    The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more commonly referred to as the Roadless Rule, is a 2001 conservation measure and Forest Service policy that protects over 45 million acres...

By CAROLINE EATON   Gray ash fluttered through the open window, settling in a thin blanket across the worn cabin floors. Golden rays of sunlight flickered across the faces of Puget Sound student Benjamin Flory (‘30) and his fellow camp counselor as they woke to the hazy scene. The pair slept soundly in their cabin at Camp Du Nord, Minnesota, unaware that the smoke outside would soon engulf their room. “It got really bad, and the smoke started pouring in,” Flory said. “My roommate and I, one of my good friends,...

Eleanor Winterfeldt, ‘26 George Slaats, ‘27   Each day on campus, students weave between pedestrians, racing to class on vintage Marketplace finds or sleek new road bikes. It’s a scene that’s become a hallmark of life at Puget Sound. The Trail sat down with five students who bike regularly, whether they’ve just started or have been riding since childhood. They shared their stories, favorite rides and what makes their bikes uniquely theirs. Eleanor Winterfeldt, ‘26 Q: How long have you been biking consistently, and why did you get into biking? “I...

Visible Mending workshop hosted by the Remakery. Photo Credit: Leigh Urbaniak With my favorite pair of tattered Levi’s jeans in hand, I walk into the Tacoma Public Library to attend the free Visible Mending workshop hosted by the Remakery, a local nonprofit organization that helps people use donated materials to make inventive crafts and practical fixes on already-owned items. Some might describe my raggedy jeans as worthless, but I see them as well-loved. Holes cover nearly every surface of my pants, and they really need patching up.    The volunteers who...