CLASSROOM EARTH Continuing My Academic Journey
Heidi Harwick, SA-9084 Heidi Harwick completed her B.S. in Geology in 2018
and is currently a graduate student at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She also works at Educational Testing Service as a proposal production specialist in the business development group. Prior to moving to San Antonio in 2004, Heidi worked and lived in southern California and served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
This December I finished my bach-
elor’s degree in geology, something I am very proud to have accomplished. It felt as if it had taken forever to complete my degree, because I have been going to school part-time and working full-time for 10 years. Finishing my last semester left me with a variety of emotions, and it took a couple of weeks for it to sink in that I was finally done. I am elated to have reached this goal; t is as if a weight has been lifted. I am also left wondering “What’s next?” now that I have reached the end of what I was working so hard toward. I am glad to be finished, but I know that I have more work to do going forward.
I have always been interested in geol- ogy, but I wasn’t ready to go to college
Grand Teton mountains in Wyoming dur- ing field camp, Summer 2017.
right after I finished high school. Instead I joined the military, and served in the U.S. Marines for five years. I worked in California for a few years, then moved to Texas when my husband got a job in San Antonio. A few years later I felt confident that I was ready to begin my studies in geology, so I enrolled at Palo Alto College (part of the Alamo Colleges District). I began in 2008, and so I was excited to complete my first milestone in 2012, my Associate’s degree in geol- ogy. After graduating, I transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) in 2013.
During the course of my studies at
UTSA mascot Rowdy Roadrunner decorated with streamers at the end of the Fall 2018 semester.
32 TPG •
Apr.May.Jun 2019
UTSA, I remember planning out the classes I needed to take, and feeling as if vast amounts of time were stretched out in front of me. I was tak- ing 4 to 6 credit hours per semester, and it seemed like it would take an extraordi- narily long time to finish everything. I sometimes felt overwhelmed and had a hard time picturing what would take place years down the road. On the plus side, I had completed most of my core curriculum already, so I was grateful to be able to focus mostly on geology courses.
One major requirement I had to fulfill was attending
field camp. I chose to go in summer of 2017, the summer prior to my final year. At that time, UTSA was just beginning its own field camp, so I decided to go to the University of Missouri’s camp in Wyoming. Because I was working full- time, I coordinated with my manager and employer to take a 7-week leave of absence in order to travel to and attend the 6-week field camp. There I had the opportunity to learn from other students and teachers, and while the work was often challenging, it was rewarding and certainly worthwhile. With field camp completed, I had fresh knowledge based on field work and new experiences, so I felt motivated to complete my remaining courses. I took my last undergraduate classes in the Fall Semester of 2018, and it felt great to finish my last final exam and know that I was free of school obli- gations until I started graduate school.
During my final year at UTSA, I made
up my mind to continue attending school and seek an M.S. in geology. I felt that attending graduate school would be ben- eficial and would provide me with more opportunities once I started working as a professional geologist. For me, choos- ing a graduate program to apply to was easy. My husband and I have worked and lived in San Antonio for 13 years and do not have plans to move anytime soon. I also enjoyed my undergraduate studies at UTSA and wanted to continue there.
Continued on p. 51
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