Andie Anderson ’13

Andie Anderson ’13 grew up in the small town of Eureka in Humboldt County in northern California, amidst the redwoods. She really didn’t know much about Southern Oregon University until an admissions representative came down to visit at a high school college fair.  She had a distinct interest in studying Spanish language but was intrigued by SOU and made the point of visiting campus. She came to Ashland on a beautiful day and loved the small-town feel, which was similar to her hometown, minus the gray fog. She was hooked!

While a student on campus, Andie felt right at home and blossomed while finding a niche in the community. Her sophomore year, she had an incredible opportunity to go to Chile to study at La Universidad Austral de chile in Valdivia. After completing her first year at the school, she moved to Santiago to volunteer at an at-risk youth program as an intern, which helped her yearning to work more often with people of lower socio-economic backgrounds to help benefit communities.

Upon her return to SOU and inspired by her experience abroad, Andie decided to double major in anthropology and language and culture. While completing her journey on campus, she cities the all-around sincerity and caring of Jean Maxwell in the Anthropology Department. “Jean was caring, intentional and always focused on her individual students’ well-being. I had a great working relationship with her and continue to stay connected to her since her retirement in 2013,” she said. Her senior capstone project for her anthropology degree was about social adjusting and youth engagement, a topic that came primarily from her experience in Chile.

While working at a local winery right after graduation in 2013, Andie learned of the Masters in Social Work program that the University of Southern California offered online. She secured volunteer and intern positions with Unite Oregon while working towards her MSW, earning it in 2015. After earning her graduate degree, Andie worked for Worksource Rogue Valley in a program where she assisted people to find employment locally by focusing upon trends and employment opportunities in high demand industries. This got her interested in some of the apprenticeship programs offered in the valley, where many great paying positions go unfilled because of a lack of qualified and trained workers.

Andie was recently hired to become the Director of Apprenticeship at Rogue Community College in White City. The program has been built over twenty years and her goal is to uphold and continue this legacy program to benefit the workforce and community. “I think it’s great that here in the Rogue Valley we have good collaborative programs to help workers succeed and flourish,” she said. “Getting my start at SOU and my experience in Chile, really made a difference in my career path and in my life. I’ll always be appreciative.”

Learn more: RCC Apprenticeship Program