By Sierra Voorhies
Hi y’all, I’m Sierra Voorhies (she/her)—some people call me Barn Owl, Voorhies, and CiCi (feel free to use those)—and I am a senior here at UMKC. This will be my third year at UMKC, and before that I spent 3 years at JCCC doing my gen eds and associates. Since this is my sixth year in college, “senior” sounds inadequate. What I really am is someone who’s just getting to know myself as an adult and has about 20 hours left to graduate.
I chose UMKC because I wanted to stay at home and focus on school instead of going somewhere like KU or K-State where I would have to work a lot to make rent. Before this job in the Women’s Center I worked in food service as a server at a pizza place, then as a barista at a local coffee shop (being a barista was more fun but serving made more money). The reason I am attracted to the Women’s Center is because I’ve always been interested in Women’s Issues—in high school I was in the Feminist Club, at junior college I took Women’s Studies and while I’ve been at UMKC I’ve taken Psychology of Gender with Dr. Nilsson. The more I learn about gendered issues and theory the more I realize I have to learn, and I hope the Women’s Center will be a good place to do that, especially here in these blogs—I can talk about what I’ve learned and what I think other people might find interesting, too.
I am also really interested in behavior, and thought processes, which is why I am majoring in Psychology. I think I want to be a counselor, or a social worker in primary schools, but grad programs are being put on hold so I can get a job and move out once I finish my Bachelor’s in the spring. For fun I love to go on walks (not runs), do yoga (not hot yoga), drink coffee (always iced), go thrifting (at like, ATC and Savers), and have deep talks with friends (my zodiac sun sign is Cancer).