Anna Solomon

I grew up in the suburbs of Boston as an “indoorsy” kid. This changed when my parents sent me to sleepaway camp at eight years old, giving me my first experience in a small community surrounded by the beautiful woods of the Berkshires. Although I was still deeply afraid of bears and bugs and dirt, I experienced the joy of living in a small cabin with close friends. Eventually, as I kept returning to camp, my love for camp friendship extended to a love of the outdoors. Eager to find similar experiences, I left my home to attend the High Mountain Institute (HMI), a semester school in Colorado. Backpacking through the Utah canyons, sleeping in snow huts, running ten miles at 10,000 feet of elevation—HMI instilled in me a love for all things outdoors and a passion for learning about the places I get to inhabit.       

HMI also launched my academic interest in the idea of community. At Pitzer College in Claremont, CA, this translated into a Politics major, focused especially on 20th-century European political theory and American social criticism. Researching and writing on the work of Wendell Berry, Hannah Arendt, and Christopher Lasch, I used my politics major to discuss the kinds of togetherness that form durable political associations. 

Although I constantly aspire to have more hobbies, right now I entertain myself by going for long runs (sometimes on trails), cooking elaborate breakfasts, and listening to/learning about 90s alternative rock.