Student Scholarship Essays “Why I want to be a geologist.”
AIPG National is proud to announce that we have awarded 18 $1,000 scholarships to undergraduate students pursuing geology degrees and careers. As part of their scholarship application, we asked the students to share with us their reasons for wanting to become geologists. We are sharing their essays here. Congratulations students!
Lindsay Abdale, SA-8503, University of Michigan
My path to geology was not a direct one, but looking back, I believe it has been a fitting one. As a kid, I wanted to be the first person to do ballet on the moon; this dream has foreshadowed my interest in art and science. I want to be a geologist because geology, for me, combines my passions for the arts and sciences.
Growing up, my interest in art was a product of the obser- vational and scientific teaching techniques my mothers used. My two moms taught me how to connect with nature and how to learn through experimentation, much like the scientific method. Darlene, the marine biologist would help me collect bugs to learn their behavior, or dissect plants under the micro- scope to learn how they grew. My other mom, Darcy, was a park ranger who introduced me to diverse landscapes where I would sit and sketch the funny mountaintops. I developed a sensitive perception for details in those afternoons spent climbing volcanoes or searching for fossils, but I never thought I wanted to study science.
I continued with fine art in high school and college. During undergrad, I completed a B.F.A. thesis project using the print- making process to explore materials in nature. Specifically, I would take field notes on long hikes, noticing repeated pat- terns in rocks or trees or rivers, and I would analyze those patterns back in the studio. Still, I didn’t realize how scientific
my artistic practice was.
Then, I took a geology course to fulfill a natural science requirement and the light bulb went off! We took a field trip to look at sequence stratigraphy and my field notes were almost identical to those from my art project. We took samples and analyzed them in the lab in the same way I analyzed my find- ings in the studio. Everything in that science class was visually explorative the way art was for me, from interference figures to patterns in outcrops. It wasn’t until then that I realized how scientific my methods in art were and how artistic sci- ence could be. And for me, that all came together in geology. Science and art, for me, are ways of expressing my curiosity, and geology combines my interests in drawing and painting and ceramics, as well as physics and astronomy and biology. In both art and science I am exploring the materials of the earth, looking for patterns that tell me how something formed, and in both I am seeking to understand, either visually in art or physically in science, something unseen and intangible but highly observable and perceptible.
Geology honors my dream as a little girl to be a ballerina astronaut. These seemingly contradictory interests work together so that I may engineer myself a rocket to dance on the moon.
James Bader, SA-8388, California University of Pennsylvania
My passion for the outdoors began as a child, as a member of the Boy Scouts of America, where campouts, hiking, biking, and backpacking were constant, though never as frequent as I would have liked. In high school, I was unable to be outdoors as much and I lamented this loss. While in
high school, I was obsessed with science, wanting to further my knowledge of the outdoors and spend more time outside. Therefore, upon graduation, I decided to double major in geol- ogy and biology. Eventually I realized that I wanted to focus entirely on the constantly evolving science of geology, and I dropped the biology major.
I developed a passion to help others; to improve the environ- ment and to work towards more efficient and environmentally sound processes, while still pushing forward industrially. I read about controversies such as the Love Canal and watched the movie, Erin Brokovich, and became enthralled by the environmental movement.
12 TPG •
Jul.Aug.Sep 2017
As I progressed into college, I realized things were not as simple as they seemed; people clamoring for either the unhin- dered advancement of industry or for the entire extinction of resource extraction both oversimplified and over-exaggerated the situation. I became determined to find the truth, though now I realize, that such a feat is nigh impossible, and is largely clouded by misinformation, greed, and fear.
However, my desire for truth and understanding only grew, and I have striven to try to leave less of an environmental impact while pursuing my goals. I began research on a flooding stream, with the hopes of helping those immediately impacted by such disasters, while trying to perhaps understand and characterize more of why such things happen, and how detri- mental the ecologic effects may be.
As I look forward to graduate school, I know that my pas- sion for geology, and all science, will continue to grow. I know that new technologies will be developed, new hazards will be realized, and new applications of geology will be established. I hope to play as large of a role as possible in order to further my own and other’s understanding of how Earth can be responsibly
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