I graduated from University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Resource Management! It was sort of surreal to graduate with another bachelor’s degree eleven (!!!!) years after the first one. Who would have thought this is where my life would lead me?!
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend getting a second bachelor’s degree (post-bacc) but for me, it worked. I took that time to learn the basics, get into the weeds on subjects I literally knew nothing about beforehand and ultimately it helped me decide what it was I wanted to focus on within ecology. I learned about forest and agricultural soils, fire ecology, forestry management, genetics and molecular ecology, wildlife research techniques, climate change impacts, indigenous stewardship and leadership, and watershed and river ecology. I learned about birds, insects, plants, trees, fungi, math, statistics, and chemistry. This experience fully awakened me to the natural world and the countless relationships and reciprocities at work every second on the land, within the forest and within our watersheds and oceans. It gave me perspective on how humans fit into it all. It gave me perspective on the harms we have caused this earth and each other.
Choosing to go back to school was intimidating. There were many moments when I felt completely out of my depths and like I didn’t belong. But, it will always be worth taking a chance on / investing in yourself. For me, that was changing careers so that I could engage more fully with that things that gave me a sense of wonder, or as Roland Barthes would say, ‘pricked’ me (punctum). He was of course referring to details in photographs that are visceral and leave an immediate impact, like a sting, but I think it applies here too. It is how I feel when I find mushrooms in the forest. They feel like gifts. Treasures. I’ll always be chasing that feeling and the sense of discovery that comes with it.
I’m very much looking forward to starting my PhD in the fall at Syracuse University. I’m excited to dive into my research topic and build community there.
East coast, here I come! Onward and upward!