IT Management graduate’s life journey comes full circle

Shortly after he was born in Ellensburg, Josh Pine’s family moved away to Las Vegas to pursue a life in the big city.

Decades later, he’s back in town, finishing up his degree in IT Management at Central Washington University.

With several years of professional experience and college credits from various community colleges under his belt, CWU struck him as the perfect place for him and his wife, Kateri Pine, to complete their undergraduate degrees after taking a break from school in the wake of the pandemic.

“Three years passed, and we decided to go finish our bachelor’s degrees,” Pine said. “We decided on Central because it had degrees for us both, and I had some familiarity with the area. We made the move to Ellensburg, which has been kind of a full-circle moment for me.”

After transferring in the fall of 2023, Pine immediately felt welcomed into the Wildcat family, with the help of one of his professors.

“I’m very fortunate that one of the first classes I took here was with David Douglas,” he said. “He took me in and helped me get more involved with school in some amazing ways.”

That involvement has stuck with Pine through his two years at CWU. Even though his classes have all been fully online this year, he has taken the time to come by campus every day, to stay in touch with the community he has grown to love.

“Even though all my classes are online, I like to stay involved on campus,” Pine said. “I’m in the library for two or three hours every day just knocking out my homework, going to see my wife over in the art department, and staying in touch with my friends around campus.”

Outside of the classroom, Pine has taken to mentoring his fellow transfer students and helping them navigate their future careers using his own journey as an example.

“I’ll let them know about my career trajectory, how I got to where I am, and what kinds of job offers that entails,” he said. “I want to be a mentor figure for my fellow transfer students and let them know that they have a place here, too.”

In spite of this deep commitment to engaging with his education in every possible way, Pine would have liked to hit the ground running even harder, and he encourages incoming students to the same.

“If I was looking back a year and a half, I would tell myself to just come in with an open mind and say yes to any opportunity that comes my way,” he said. “Talk to as many people as possible, get engaged, and go down that rabbit hole to see where it takes you.”

Looking back at a history of bouncing between schools and figuring himself out piece by piece, Pine has come to the conclusion that, in life, there are no straight roads.

“It’s been almost a decade of me going to school, taking time off, going back, and figuring out what I’m passionate about and what I want to pursue,” he said. “There really is no right or wrong way to do it, but going to school is worth pursuing, and Central is going to take good care of you.”

With a vibrant career in project management ahead at Central Washington Asphalt in Tri-Cities, and fatherhood on the horizon, Pine reflects on his decision to stick it out and finish his undergraduate degree at CWU just like his parents before him. He has no doubt that he made the right call.