Mariam Anderson
I’d just finished high school in ’89. I experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union, the civil war,and the first invasion by Russia on April 9, 1989."
Mariam Anderson, then Mariam Kurdghelaidze, came to TCC on a Fulbright scholarship in 1999. She was sponsored by Goodwill Physicians, a Tacoma non-profit founded by Dr. Robert Klein. The group brought over many students from the former Soviet Union and adjacent countries, including high school students from Vladivostock, who attended Stadium High School. Anderson is from a town called Tibilisi, in the Republic of Georgia.
Anderson explained that as the country that supplied tea, wine, and other highly valued agricultural products to the Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia escaped much of the economic hardship the region experienced in the 1970s and 1980s. However, when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1992, Georgia felt the full effects, including an economic blockage that lasted from 1992 – 1997.
“There was no exchange of food, no trade, not electricity, no heat, no gas,” Anderson recalled. “I’d just finished high school in ’89. I experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union, the civil war, and the first invasion by Russia on April 9, 1989.”
While her country experienced economic meltdown, Anderson finished a B.A. in trade and economics and started her master’s degree. The Department of Foreign Efforts hired her to help Georgia join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Anderson and two colleagues were focused on trade and goods. They visited Hungary for a week of training, at which point she realized there were gaps in her economics education.
“That’s where I realized that I needed more than a Soviet Union educational background,” Anderson recalled. “That was when I learned about supply and demand, which I’d never learned.”
The country was too disrupted for Anderson to complete her master’s degree. After learning that she could work in Geneva if she got a western degree, she started looking at programs overseas.
“When my visa was approved, I had to stay and finish or take a leap and go to the U.S., and that’s what I decided to do. My mom never forgave me. It was very difficult. I’m the only one who lives outside the country, the only daughter.”
Anderson was dubious about moving to the West Coast, a region she associated with horses and cowboys.
“I was, like, wait, I’m 28. I need education, not adventure.”
Anderson landed at SeaTac at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 21, 1999, to begin the adventure of majoring in International Accounting at TCC. She signed up for ESL, and discovered that she was OK for math, but would have to re-take her economics classes. She remembers her ESL 159 professor, Claudia Martson, as a “delightful, delightful person.”
Another delight was the new dress code she encountered. When she dressed up to go to class, as you were expected to do in Georgia, her fellow students assumed she was the professor.
“It was the first cultural shock, to learn about the dress code, which I very much enjoyed – to be in the tennis shoes, and the flip-flops,” Anderson recalled.
The International students in ESL 159 decided they wanted to be something more than just a class. They launched two big projects: a community service club and an International Digest, which Anderson’s host father Dr. Robert Klein printed for them. The digest was eventually absorbed by TCC student newspaper “The Challenge,” which continued to publish it as part of the paper. The community service club proved to be a transformative experience for Anderson.
“Claudia Martson, our lovely ESL teacher – she tried to give us the opportunity to learn what it takes, what it means to be a good community member. None of us had any understanding of volunteer work. Her idea was to create something where we volunteer for a specific cause.”
Though they came from all over the world, the group agreed that they all loved food, and they all loved cooking. They decided to make meals and take them to the bridge by Portland Avenue. Martson would take the group to Costco for supplies, and then they’d go to Anderson’s apartment to make sloppy joes, Kimchi pancakes, and other simple meals – 300 of each. Then they’d pack the food, get into any available vehicles and go set up tables on Portland Avenue. Each Saturday they’d have four different meals, and four students distributing the food.
“It was the funnest, most amazing experience – fifty people enjoying it together,” Anderson recalled. “And then we’d come back to my apartment, prepare a meal, and enjoy it together. I very much loved it, the sense of community, the sense of doing something good to people who need that help. And even though we were not born in this country, we had positive attitude and kindness, and we do care. We care about people who help us study at TCC.”
Though Anderson knew how to cook and took charge of the volunteer group’s cooking, the project also helped her acclimate to the bewildering variety of foods found in American supermarkets. She remembers going to the grocery store the Sunday after she landed in America and being overwhelmed by the need to choose between varieties of things she’d never had to think about before, such as milk and oil.
“It’s still a little bit too much for me,” Anderson said. “I know what I’m going after, and I just go get it. I get whole milk and make my own yogurt.”
Anderson also experienced a sense of community in her living situation. In addition to hosting three international students in their second apartment, the Klein family offered their own kitchen as overflow cooking space when the community service club was preparing meals. That sense of closeness and community was the thing Anderson missed most when she transferred to PLU.
“That’s my fondest memory, the sense of creating the community where you can flourish, where you can explore your growth, talk, express yourself, and also give back. Learning how to give back and volunteer for various causes was also a huge experience I took from TCC.”
Anderson graduated from TCC in 2001, got a scholarship, and transferred to PLU, where she majored in International Business and minored in Spanish. After graduating, she was able to work in Olympia on an HI Visa. She ended up working in A/D Electronics in Gig Harbor, and she met her husband Todd Anderson in a ballroom dancing class. Every two to three years she goes back to Georgia to visit her family. And her son attends TCC as a Running Start student.
“He was OK at Silas, but now he’s changed 180 degrees. It’s his third quarter, and he’s a 4.0 student. It’s very challenging; he loves the challenge. It gives him a sense of independence, he’s challenged with discipline, organizational skills, time, class load, homework. I’m thrilled to see how much the Running Start program brought the curiosity, drive, and determination, out of my son. He always tells his friends, come on, move to TCC, it’s awesome!”
Anderson has also stayed in touch with TCC through other aspects of her life. She’s kept up with some of her fellow international students. She served on the board of a local non-profit with TCC International Programs Director James Newman, and she used to host international students before Covid forced her to turn her extra bedroom into an office. And she was in Rotary Club with former TCC President Dr. Pamela Transue.
“I adore Pamela. I absolutely adore her, and I was tearful to see that TCC retained her legacy by naming a building after her,” Anderson said.
Anderson is proud that she went to a community college, and proud that her son chose the same route.
“They’re very important educational institutions. We as a society need to support them, and we need to educate our society about the programs that are available. I’m so lucky that that I don’t have a school loan. I’m very happy that my son made that decision.”
For six decades, Tacoma Community College has advanced equity, cultivated learning, strengthened community partnerships, and enhanced institutional vitality. This story is one of 60, celebrating our 60th Anniversary. Discover more on our TCC 60th Anniversary web page.