Meet Tiffanie Beatty

Whitworth Cadre One
'07 Graduate (B.A. Psychology)
Wilson High School '03

The trigonometry experiment

Tiffanie Beatty, a self-proclaimed "deep thinker," has always known that the potential to succeed in college and the world beyond lay within. When the question of pursuing higher education arose, Tiffanie's response was, "I knew I was a good student [and college] was something I could do if I tried." As a senior in high school, already admitted to Whitworth College and the Act Six Initiative, Tiffanie tested this theory, retaking a Trigonometry class that stood between her and her goal GPA of 3.5. Receiving an A grade in the class, Tiffanie discovered how far her determination could take her.

A philosophical foundation

While working part-time and focusing on her studies Tiffanie found time to remain close to her church and family. Nurtured by a philosophy centered on God's heart for the city, Tiffanie began to think more deeply about her individual role in her community. "Tacoma is not a perfect place to live, but its real… and it's a city of hidden treasures," she reflects passionately. Tiffanie feels that her upbringing helped prepare her to join Act Six and Whitworth College, where her questions about herself and her world would force her peers to question their own assumptions and prejudices.

Keeping it real

In the classroom, as the only one choosing topics concerning race, Tiffanie was able to push a rare perspective into the curriculum. Her peers in turn, responded with questions that grew into understanding. Tiffanie, who prides herself in her ability to be authentic, says that she has found that through these classroom experiences, "People knew my passions, which told me that I made an impact; this told me that was I real."

Building bridges with good questions

As a leader on campus, Tiffanie has been a part of creating opportunities for groups of people who seem so different being brought together in discovering how much they have to offer one another. With Tiffanie as president, the Whitworth Black Student Union has grown into a club that intentionally focuses on asking good questions. The club has successfully engaged the Whitworth campus and community as it seeks to explore those questions on race, black identity and cultural awareness. Along with helping people to ask plenty of questions, Tiffanie's leadership has helped diminish the mythical question, "Do I have to be black to be in the BSU?"

Empowered and still thinking

In testing personal theories, and maintaining a faithful relationship with good questions along the way, Tiffanie has been influenced to extend her academic confidence into areas of leadership and community involvement that will benefit her community upon her return. "Whitworth has been a place for me to test and strengthen the leadership qualities I was born with," she says. Empowered by the ways in which her hometown has shaped her, Tiffanie is now thinking deeply about how she can shape her city.

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