The Center for Life Beyond Reed - CLBR

While Alyssa came to Reed planning to study economics and eventually go to law school, she ended up writing a psychology thesis on social anxiety, drinking motives, and alcohol use in gender-diverse communities. In this episode, Alyssa shares about her experience discovering clinical psychology at Reed and taking on a complex statistical analysis project that, despite her best efforts, didn’t always cooperate with her intentions.

Tune in to hear Alyssa reflect on how she learned to let go of preconceived notions of the “senior thesis,” how she has been continuing her psychology research post-grad, and how her senior year taught her to occasionally step away from the computer and touch grass.

🎧 Hear from Alyssa on Spotify (or listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WB7edSOexwhy3NaGqkncT?si=1dc31e1997d643f0

This is the last episode that our student producer, Ace Lackey ’27, will produce for the podcast. We’re sad to reach this end, but excited for Ace to start their senior year next year, and who knows, maybe they’ll be back to do a mini-episode for us while they’re working on their thesis.

Listen to interviews with dozens of Reed alumni and learn about their thesis years on our website:
🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥

Reed College

Class of 2026, Alumni Relations is throwing you party 🎉

Come celebrate the end of your Reed era before Commencement weekend begins!

Date: Friday, May 15
Time: 3-5 PM
Location: The Quad

What to expect:
🍕 Food
🍹 Drinks (including NA options)
🎟️ Raffle prizes
🕹️Games
⏳A class time capsule you’ll open at your 25th reunion

Bring a classmate and something small to add to the time capsule

Ace sits down with Emilie Kelly ’25 to discuss Berlin’s war memorial Neue Wache, or New Guardhouse, the centerpiece of Emilie’s anthropology thesis. Following a semester abroad in Berlin, Emilie became fascinated by the cultural rituals surrounding war memorials, and how these memorials—and the administrations that govern them—play an important role in constructing our collective memory.

Tune in to hear Emilie and Ace explore the complex relationship between history and memorialization, from past regimes to the rise of authoritarianism around the world today. In addition, Emilie reflects on how her archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, and cohort-style thesis experience at Reed came together in her thesis—a project which, as she and Ace put it, “doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be done.”

🎧 Hear from Emilie on Spotify (or listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1A4oKuKp0RYMFbJMI9Gsmr?si=942ad4e135604f2a

Listen to interviews with dozens of Reed alumni and learn about their thesis years on our website:
🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥

Reed College

Ace chats with Lucas Forshee about his thesis on the molecule strychnine, which, despite being poisonous, was used as a stimulant for athletes in the 1904 Olympics. Lucas shares a bit about the chemical composition of strychnine, why it's such a complicated molecule, and why it's so fascinating to researchers.

But Lucas's research didn't just take place in the chemistry lab: a big part of his project was developing a written history of strychnine. Tune in to hear Lucas reflect on synthesizing the humanities and science in his thesis, and how this process gave him a renewed love for writing and a desire to return to graduate school (eventually).

🎧 Hear from Lucas on Spotify (or listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Hmn7LhPOgO1NY36lYqLHO?si=672a0bb709544c2c

Listen to interviews with dozens of Reed alumni and learn about their thesis years on our website:
🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥

Reed College

In this episode, we hear from Caleb about the central theme of violence in McCarthy’s 1985 novel Blood Meridian and its relevance to modern times. Responding to the grimness of McCarthy’s book, set in the 19th-century American southwest, Caleb explores questions such as: What is the significance of violence in society, and how can we resist its inevitability? How can we make meaning, as readers, to respond effectively to violence in our society today?

Tune in to hear about Caleb’s process of literary analysis, how his background in Religious Studies showed up unexpectedly in his thesis, and how he found glimmers of hope amidst the bleakness of McCarthy’s novel and, at times, the modern world.

🎧 Hear from Caleb on Spotify (or listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts): https://open.spotify.com/episode/7sKoUibFDDcK5fu0svBiPq?si=ed2e67a0937c4c3d

Listen to interviews with dozens of Reed alumni and learn about their thesis years on our website:
🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥

Reed College

🚗 🌲 Seattle, anyone?

Join CLBR x Alumni Relations for a Reedies in Tech trip to Seattle and connect with alumni at the first-ever reunion.
This is a chance to build connections, explore career paths, and see what life after Reed can look like!

🗓️ April 19 | 7 AM - 5 PM
⚠️ 21+ ONLY
🔗 Register at the link: https://forms.gle/YdDLUsQYAzzyBCTD8

Great news! Summer Internship Award applications have reopened! This is a great option for unpaid internships with a nonprofit and can be widely applied to different disciplines. The second deadline is April 15th at noon so get yours in now! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to CLBR staff or a Peer Career Advisor!

Peer Career Advisor applications are OPEN! If you're someone that enjoys helping people, building community, and learning about career, grad school, and fellowships advising, this position is a good fit for you! Applications are live in Handshake and close 4/16. If you have any questions about the application process, please email us at [email protected]!

Are you looking for a summer opportunity that allows you to do good within community development and sustainability? Join CLBR and Community Warehouse to learn more about their mission, their vision for the summer, and how you might be able to get involved (with the help of Summer Internship Award)!

Burn Your Draft, our podcast about the Reed College senior thesis, just posted a new interview with Rhiannon Weakley '24. Listen here, or search for Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts:
https://on.soundcloud.com/hcUIhdC7Xd5gWOyUa4