Other News
Apr 25, 2025: New Daily Service Schedule, Growing Ridership & Other Insights on County’s Pilot Transport Services
Apr 24, 2025: Building and Land Use Permits, Long-Range Planning Projects, & Staff Recruitments: DCD Leadership Provides Spring Update
Apr 4, 2025: 2025 Comp Plan Update: Transportation Element, Plan Intro, & Administration Piece Ready for Review
Mar 19, 2025: San Juan County Establishes Interim Inter-Island Transportation Services as RFP Process Continues
Mar 7, 2025: 2025 Comp Plan Update: Climate Element and Draft Official Map Amendments Available for Review
Mar 6, 2025: Governor Ferguson announces plan to restore Washington State Ferries to full service by this summer
Mar 4, 2025: Public Meeting: Land Bank Using Prescribed Fires to Manage Wildfire Risks & Restore Ecosystems
Feb 19, 2025: San Juan County Seeks Proposals from Transportation Service Providers for Pilot Project
Feb 12, 2025: Call for Candidates: Three-Day Special Filing Period for Lopez Metropolitan Park District Commissioners
Jan 19, 2025: Four districts, six unions, three PTAs, and county leadership all agree: legislators must take action to fully fund education no
Dec 19, 2024: San Juan County Parks and Fair Announces New Camping Software; Delaying Reservation Availability
Dec 10, 2024: County Council Considers Extending Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste to Allow for More Collaboration
Dec 5, 2024: San Juan County to Consider Updated Interlocal Agreement with Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District
Dec 2, 2024: San Juan County Council Sets Public Hearing for Cultural Access Sales Tax at Dec. 10 Meeting
Nov 25, 2024: San Juan County Celebrates Completion of Lopez Skate Park and Calls for Inaugural Skaters
Nov 7, 2024: How Has Extreme Weather Impacted You? Participate in the County’s Climate Resilience Planning Effort
Nov 1, 2024: UPDATE: Sea Wall Repairs Temporarily Close MacKaye Harbor Dock and Boat Ramp on Lopez Island
Oct 22, 2024: DRAFT North Shore Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Oct 21, 2024: Reminder: You’re Invited to Attend Open Houses for the 2025 Comp Plan Update This Fall
Oct 1, 2024: LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF THE SAN JUANS SPONSORS OCTOBER COUNTY COUNCIL VOTER FORUMS ON SJI, ORCAS, AND LOPEZ
Sep 24, 2024: County Hosts Community Meeting on Lopez Island to Discuss Public Safety during Hunting Season
Sep 24, 2024: SJC Reviews Shoreline Habitat & Infrastructure Adaptation Strategies in the face of Sea Level Rise
Sep 23, 2024: DRAFT Watmough Bay Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Aug 29, 2024: San Juan County’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Survey Sets Baseline for Ongoing Change
Aug 27, 2024: 2024 San Juan County WSU Master Gardeners Gardening Workshop Series, October 15-24, 2024
Aug 27, 2024: County Representatives Discuss Solutions to Ferry Service Disruptions with Governor Inslee
Aug 21, 2024: County Council’s Request to Governor for Relief from Ferry Service Disruptions Not Fulfilled
Aug 20, 2024: San Juan County Certifies Primary Election Results & Celebrates Highest Primary Turnout in Years
Aug 13, 2024: WSF Commits Additional Crews to Interisland Route to Ensure Service During County Fair Week
Aug 13, 2024: Ferry Data from Staff and Local Partners Shapes Council Request for ‘Executive Relief’ From WA State
Aug 5, 2024: The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival returns to Lopez for its 27th Summer Concert Season
May 2, 2024: WA State Governor and Assistant Secretary of WSF Talk Ferry Service & Solar Power with SJC Officials
Apr 11, 2024: Community Meeting: Sea Level Rise Adaptation for Outer Bay and Agate Beach Areas on Lopez Island
Mar 11, 2024: Queers in Unexpected Places: Searching for (and Finding) Gender and Sexual Non-Conformity in the Rural and Early PNW
Mar 7, 2024: DRAFT Richardson Marsh Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Dec 5, 2023: County Council Member Jane Fuller and Senator Liz Lovelett to Host Public Meeting on Lopez
Nov 3, 2023: County and Town Send Open Letter to State Officials Regarding Impacts of Poor Ferry Service
Sep 29, 2023: Conservation Land Bank Announces Special Meeting to Discuss Watmough Bay Preserve Addition
Sep 14, 2023: The mobile dental van is coming to Lopez! // ¡La camioneta dental móvil ya llega a López!
Aug 22, 2023: San Juan County Adopts 32-Hour Work Week in the Name of Fiscal Health, Recruitment, and Islander Wellness
May 25, 2023: Recap of Lopez Neighborhood Meeting Regarding the Relocation of Public Works Facilities
May 23, 2023: District 3 Councilmember Jane Fuller Opens Office on Lopez and Hosts Community Conversation
Apr 17, 2023: Give Lopez Starts April 17th - A two week fundraiser benefiting 15 Lopez Island Non-Profits
Sep 22, 2022: Interim Watmough Preserve Addition Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Where Are They Now? Catching up With Lopez Grads
May 5, 2023
By Gretchen Wing
Community Scholarship Awardee Anah-Kate Drahn graduates from nursing school
One of the favorite pastimes of the board members of Lopez Island Community Scholarship Foundation (LICSF), now in its seventh year, is to share “Where are they now?†updates of our awardees’ progress in the world. But why should the board have all the fun? Recently, LICSF was able to catch up with Lopez graduate Anah-Kate Drahn to hear about her adventures. Spoiler alert: she’s graduating from nursing school.
Following high school, Drahn headed across the country in 2018, to Emory University in Atlanta. She credits her older siblings with the idea of venturing so far away; brother Nate had gone to Arkansas, sister Miriam to Colorado. “I knew I could make a home away from home wherever it was,†Drahn says, “and I wanted to see more of the world.â€
But Emory had a special draw as well: it is one of the few schools which accepts transfers from its humanities courses straight into its nursing program, which is otherwise extremely difficult to get into. Immersing herself in humanities before focusing on nursing, Drahn says, shaped her into “a better human,†adding, “I love Lopez and I love our school, but I felt like I didn’t fully understand…what America was.†Two years of coursework like Women and Gender Studies and American Movements, along with science and math prerequisites, prepared a base from which to ascend into nursing.
Drahn mentions receiving pushback from some on Lopez about sojourning in Georgia. “There’s a lot of implicit bias against the South, that it’s made up of racists,†she says. “I find that very close-minded. I think that racism is …very noticeable throughout our country.†In Atlanta, Drahn is often a member of a racial minority, something she finds “super-important to understand and to live in.†She admits to having felt some culture shock at first, but simply due to having grown up on an island. “I think I would’ve had culture shock no matter where I went,†Drahn says with a laugh.
Like millions of students, Drahn took a gap year in 2020, but she calls herself “very lucky,†having planned one even before COVID. She spent the year working as an EMT in Seattle, commuting from Bellingham. Drahn says, “It was a great experience - really hard - but a precursor of what I was getting myself into.†Watching “how the EMTS would reassure people having the worst day of their life, take care of them, with a whole other level of empathy,†Drahn says, “they showed me how I can be.†Those empathy lessons had, in fact, begun when Drahn, at age 15, joined the student EMTs on Lopez, a continuing program she says “blew her away,†and which she highly recommends to other youth.
So immersive was that working gap year, Drahn admits, she almost didn’t come back to Emory - “but I’m so glad I did,†especially as her Seattle experience has helped her become a better nurse. EMTs and nurses don’t always get along in the heat of the moment, she explains, but now she understands both perspectives.
Drahn will graduate with her Emory nursing degree in May. Asked about what’s next, she responds, “So many plans!†In November, she and her fellow-nurse best friend will move to Denver to work on the Acute Care Trauma Unit at Denver Health. Excited and nervous, Drahn explains she has always “leaned into really uncomfortable places… When I am most uncomfortable, that’s where I grow the most.†Mountains, she says, are her “main source of de-stress,†and she could easily have found a job near mountains in Washington, but - “Might as well scare myself!â€
So Denver it is, in the fall. But this summer, Drahn and her friend plan to walk the 400-mile Camino de Santiago, Portugal through Spain, staying at hostels. Drahn says it’s a good activity for a “time of transition,†an opportunity for “centering†before turning to the next thrilling chapter.
Does Drahn have any advice for current high schoolers? “Don’t be afraid to take time, to listen to your gut,†she says, and encourages both taking a gap year and finding the courage to leave the area. “Coming from an island, that’s a really scary leap to do, and I wholeheartedly believe that’s what you should do. You can always come back. There’s just way too much in this world to see.â€
Following high school, Drahn headed across the country in 2018, to Emory University in Atlanta. She credits her older siblings with the idea of venturing so far away; brother Nate had gone to Arkansas, sister Miriam to Colorado. “I knew I could make a home away from home wherever it was,†Drahn says, “and I wanted to see more of the world.â€
But Emory had a special draw as well: it is one of the few schools which accepts transfers from its humanities courses straight into its nursing program, which is otherwise extremely difficult to get into. Immersing herself in humanities before focusing on nursing, Drahn says, shaped her into “a better human,†adding, “I love Lopez and I love our school, but I felt like I didn’t fully understand…what America was.†Two years of coursework like Women and Gender Studies and American Movements, along with science and math prerequisites, prepared a base from which to ascend into nursing.
Drahn mentions receiving pushback from some on Lopez about sojourning in Georgia. “There’s a lot of implicit bias against the South, that it’s made up of racists,†she says. “I find that very close-minded. I think that racism is …very noticeable throughout our country.†In Atlanta, Drahn is often a member of a racial minority, something she finds “super-important to understand and to live in.†She admits to having felt some culture shock at first, but simply due to having grown up on an island. “I think I would’ve had culture shock no matter where I went,†Drahn says with a laugh.
Like millions of students, Drahn took a gap year in 2020, but she calls herself “very lucky,†having planned one even before COVID. She spent the year working as an EMT in Seattle, commuting from Bellingham. Drahn says, “It was a great experience - really hard - but a precursor of what I was getting myself into.†Watching “how the EMTS would reassure people having the worst day of their life, take care of them, with a whole other level of empathy,†Drahn says, “they showed me how I can be.†Those empathy lessons had, in fact, begun when Drahn, at age 15, joined the student EMTs on Lopez, a continuing program she says “blew her away,†and which she highly recommends to other youth.
So immersive was that working gap year, Drahn admits, she almost didn’t come back to Emory - “but I’m so glad I did,†especially as her Seattle experience has helped her become a better nurse. EMTs and nurses don’t always get along in the heat of the moment, she explains, but now she understands both perspectives.
Drahn will graduate with her Emory nursing degree in May. Asked about what’s next, she responds, “So many plans!†In November, she and her fellow-nurse best friend will move to Denver to work on the Acute Care Trauma Unit at Denver Health. Excited and nervous, Drahn explains she has always “leaned into really uncomfortable places… When I am most uncomfortable, that’s where I grow the most.†Mountains, she says, are her “main source of de-stress,†and she could easily have found a job near mountains in Washington, but - “Might as well scare myself!â€
So Denver it is, in the fall. But this summer, Drahn and her friend plan to walk the 400-mile Camino de Santiago, Portugal through Spain, staying at hostels. Drahn says it’s a good activity for a “time of transition,†an opportunity for “centering†before turning to the next thrilling chapter.
Does Drahn have any advice for current high schoolers? “Don’t be afraid to take time, to listen to your gut,†she says, and encourages both taking a gap year and finding the courage to leave the area. “Coming from an island, that’s a really scary leap to do, and I wholeheartedly believe that’s what you should do. You can always come back. There’s just way too much in this world to see.â€
