MEET THE ADVOCATE: Marisa Engelhard

Marisa Engelhard’s journey with The Advocate is a wonderful reminder that sometimes, getting lost leads you exactly where you’re meant to be.

About three years ago, while taking a film photography class at MHCC, Marisa needed to rent a tripod for an assignment. She was searching for the equipment room where Integrated Media students borrow gear but accidentally entered the Advocate office during the staff’s first meeting of the term. A photographer was needed and she decided to sign on right then.

Marisa quickly became a cornerstone for the team, serving as head photographer and the photo editor. This year, she returned as a staff contributor with a focus is to help guide and support newcomers.

“My goal is to encourage a passion for journalism and photography in others and help them develop their skills,” she notes. Her own, semi-professional approach is deeply personal and driven by feeling, she explains: “To make sure that any photo I take evokes an emotion in the viewer; I don’t particularly care what emotion it is, as long as it makes them feel something.”

Marisa’s major at Mt. Hood is actually chemistry, and this is her final term before graduation.

When not sharing her passion with others, she enjoys hiking and bike rides and loves cooking her own food to recharge her own energies.