Fiona Giselle Hackett / The Mossy Log
THE PATH TO Lewis & Clark may sometimes look like a climb. Brin Frey ’29 transferred to LC in fall 2026 from Saddleback Community College (SCC) and UC Irvine as a junior and is taking slow and steady steps to achieve her goal of attaining a bachelor’s degree before turning 30.
After spending two years at SCC and about two months at UC Irvine, Frey spent time in various careers including factory work, retail, warehouse support, front desk management and temp agencies. Frey has spent a nonlinear 12 years in higher education. After a move to Portland in November 2019 with her partner, she took a temporary position at LC Law Campus as a faculty legal assistant. She feels very grateful for that position since “it was a foot in the door,” and led to her securing a full-time position once someone else stepped down. She has been in her position now for about two years.
Frey’s first taste of LC is certainly nontraditional, as she started as an employee and now holds titles of both worker and student. One memory she noted as valuable and meaningful was, “walking in on my first day (at LC Law Campus) and there’s a student lounge, and there are a ton of fridges and microwaves.” She laughed, recollecting her thoughts about what it was like to have to fend for herself in other spaces she once inhabited.
“Like, there’s no threat of theft or losing your lunch or anything. It’s such a communal environment.”
Frey remarked that many people she works with have been a part of LC for years and years, which she saw as a good sign. All of this helped her to feel belonging in her role as an employee.
Her journey as a student has been a little more “mechanical.” When asked to explore further, she said, her experience “feel(s) a little bit difficult navigating expectations, because I’m on more of the faculty side of the Law School, but I’m completely on the student side here.” Preparedness and making an effort have been key pillars in Frey’s transition into becoming a part-time history major. She recalls on her first day of class, “everything that I was gonna say was printed out.” Having grown used to email correspondence, this likely felt like a support system to help her get over the first-day jitters.
At the time of our conversation, it was Frey’s second week in her first semester at LC. She said that she did not prepare any written statements but is still going off notes in her book, written in a Sharpie S-Gel pen, her favorite school supply. Part of this challenge has to do with navigating her student-to-student relationships, especially with an age gap as a nontraditional student.
“I haven’t really interacted with, you know, an 18-year-old in a while,” she commented, “(I’m) thinking about, like, damn, are they gonna like me? Like, am I gonna be cool?”
An age gap is a common fear for transfer students who fall in the nontraditional category. Frey’s journey is additionally unique since she has had previous experiences at UC Irvine where competition was intense and it was hard to connect with students.
In order to summit these internal mountains of doubt and uncertainty she has found support from the Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement office. When Frey has a hard day she heads there for a pep talk and some warm welcomes.
“(I) remind myself it’s supposed to be hard,” Frey said. “We’re kind of all learning together, and I think all any student wants for each other is to help one another.”
As more issues of The Mossy Log are published throughout the 2026-27 school year, our readers will get to hear from conversations with students who fall into the categories of transfer, nontraditional and/or international, and written by a first-generation nontraditional transfer student arriving at LC this year as a junior from a community college in rural Oregon. The intention of these features is to give sound to the silent trek some students in this population may face, reminding them that there are others walking alongside them on this journey at LC.
If you are interested in having a conversation with the writer, please contact lc26-0762@lclark.edu.
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