Growing up, my fascination with the natural world was nurtured by my experience as a home-schooled student raising various Ohio butterflies. I studied their host plants, growth, and migratory patterns, which started me on a path to appreciate the scope and relevance of the environmental and life sciences. I had always planned on attending Wright State University, and after being awarded a scholarship, it was even more financially feasible to attend college.
Evolution and Ecology with Dr. Bahn has been one of my favorite courses, as it included outdoor labs. Some of my other core classes have helped broaden my interests as well; I never realized that I'd love the elegance of calculus, or that sociology would be so relevant to environmental conservation! Now I've become the president of the Sociology Club, and a member of the College of Science and Mathematics? Dean's Circle. In my free time, I've been volunteering with the Metroparks, staffing the Germantown nature center and caring for their ambassador animals.
I advise future students to be prepared to do more studying, writing, and planning than ever before. It's no exaggeration to say that I spend upwards of five hours a day, including weekends, doing course-related activities such as homework, studying, writing research papers, and composing lab reports. It'll feel like a lot, and it is a lot! But the sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of having an abstract concept go "click" in your mind makes it all worthwhile. Establish your reputation as a person who is determined, thoughtful, reliable, and committed to coming to class; you can be guaranteed that our faculty here will notice your hard work, which will translate into personal connections with professionals in your degree path.
Remember that even though the courses are demanding and challenging, people with STEM degrees have options in a variety of fields. Stay focused on your studies, have a thirst for knowledge, and the ability to put aside personal biases to see the intricate workings of the natural world.
