Why Geology?

I have lived most of my life in Indiana, but spend most of my time day dreaming about living elsewhere. In 2011 I flew out to Seattle, Washington where I spent my summer. I have always fantasized about the outdoors and dreamed of climbing high mountains, but it was there that my love for the mountains was confirmed.

For those of you familiar with the topography of Indiana (or lack there of) it should not come as a surprise that I found myself in a bit of a depression when I returned. However, I soon discovered the caving scene and became fast friends with many of the local cavers. I quickly caught on to the fact that I was the type of person who thrived in complex geologic environments. I needed to figure out how I could live in a beautiful place with people who shared my passion for the outdoors and a healthy lifestyle.

As an economics major I could only see my future as a number cruncher working out of a cubical somewhere (probably in Indiana). My childhood friend, Nathan was attending school as a wildlife management major and whenever I saw him he was always passionate about his studies and could talk for hours about his experiences. I was always jealous of him, he had the courage to study something he was passionate about. One night towards the end of my third semester I called Nate up and had a long talk with him about his major and the motives that led him towards that path. When we ended our conversation I had made the decision that I was going to change my major to geology.

This was a huge risk for me, I knew absolutely nothing about geology and to be honest I had only just found out that there was a geology department on campus. With my current major I was on track to graduate a semester early and with the switch I was almost guaranteed a fifth year. When I called my parents to tell them my decision they were caught off guard but not surprised, they had a lot of questions but in the end were supportive. My mother, being a scientist herself liked the idea of me going into a science. While my father never understood why I choose economics in the first place he found the idea of geology to be much more up my alley.

Two years later I can say without a doubt that switching my major was the best decision I ever made.