I am transitioning from being a community college English professor to pursuing work in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I have consistently had many interests, ranging from medieval history to ornithology to poetry to plate tectonics. Exploration, whether of knowledge or terrain, has always excited me, and I love learning new things and noticing the surprising connections between all of them. I’m looking forward to forming a career for myself in which my work involves always gathering new information—about people, towns, watersheds, geologies, and so on—examining these puzzle pieces, and finding the story that they ultimately tell.
My goal is to find opportunities to work with geology, the environment, and/or GIS. I recently earned an associate's degree in geology at Cuesta College, and I am working toward a Certificate in GIS from Cuesta College, which I hope to put to use in a GIS internship or job.
How I Got Here
I grew up in San Luis Obispo. Living here built my love for the outdoors and my fascination with the land: As a child and teenager, I explored local creeks with my brother, wandered through the boulders and oaks on the flanks of Bishop Peak, and did Junior Ranger activities when my mom took us camping at Morro Bay and San Simeon State Parks. A fifth-grade class trip to Yosemite struck me with what became a lifelong hunger for granite and high altitude.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in literature among the redwoods at UC Santa Cruz, where I also took my first geology class. Through the UCSC recreation program, I went on my first backpacking trips and took classes on wilderness survival. Sometimes I spent nights out among the redwoods by myself, with no tent, awed by all the stars. UCSC also introduced me to rock climbing, which is now my main leisure-time passion.
Feeling intellectually bored a couple years after college, and wanting to help young people discover the power of critical thinking, I went to San Francisco State University for a master’s in English in order to teach English at the college level. I went on to teach for nine years, first in the Bay Area and then on the central coast. Incorporating my wide-ranging interests into my courses, I used texts on environmentalism, the food industry, psychology, race, and gender to teach students to analyze language and to write essays.
However, I increasingly had a nagging feeling that I wanted to go beyond the classroom, to get out in the world. I wanted to channel my interest in the earth into a career that would allow me to have a hand in studying, analyzing, and influencing the space we inhabit here on the central coast. Now my studies and my work are leading me beyond mere words on paper, and I am enjoying the adventure.