Chapter 2

Discovering my Interests

LOVE AT FIRST BITE

01 / After graduating high school, I spent two years serving in the military and then moved to Costa Rica with my family. From age 19-22, I worked full-time to save money. I started out fixing PlayStations and then got a job hosting outdoor adventures with a local company.

02 / When I finally saved enough money to go back to school, it was a little difficult to become a student again. During my time out of school, I read a lot, but it took some time to adjust to learning in a classroom.

03 / In college, I decided on a Biology major because Geology wasn’t available that year. When I started to do fieldwork, I learned critical thinking, data collection and scientific writing. The experience of going outside and seeing science in action fascinated me.

04 / One of my first projects with a college friend was with bats. It was my first experience with them, and I ended up being bitten while we released them from the mist nets! It was my fault for not wearing gloves (I was learning and I got a rabies vaccine the following day), but I got the chance to have a close-up interaction with these incredible fruit-eating bats. After that experience, I decided that’s what I wanted to focus on for the rest of college (and always wore gloves after that)! That’s why it’s important to explore lots of different types of science; if you aren’t sure what you’re interested in, you never know what will catch your attention.