June 13, 2024

CHID Honors Thesis Turned Novel

Tisbe Rinehart, a graduating senior who will receive her BA with Departmental Honors in CHID (comparative history of ideas), combined her love of the outdoors and experiences with wilderness therapy to self-publish a novel. This novel is told through fictional journal entries of a teen engaged in wilderness therapy, including a bibliographic essay that covers information about the “troubled teen” industry and its connections to settler colonial violence.

Rinehart says: “the UW doesn’t hold your hand, but if you seek opportunities, people will bend over backward to help you.”

Rinehart used her Mary Gates Research Scholarship to print copies of her book and is both a UWild guide and a UW tour guide. She is now starting a UW chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Read more about Tisbe Rinehart’s creative process in this article.