1. The path which lead me to Evergreen began when I earned an Associate Degree in Environmental
Science from Clover Park Technical College. After graduating in 2009, I struggled to find meaningful
employment in the Environmental Science field. After a long and exhaustive job search, I was offered a
position with the Department of Ecology's Washington Conservation Corps program, which I readily
accepted. I spent my first year with the Washington Conservation Corps working on a wetland
restoration crew. This was very a defining experience for me. In fact, I enjoyed this program so much I
decided to do another year-long term. For my second year with the Washington Conservation Corps, I
worked on a crew based out of the Elbe Hills State Forest. This crew mainly focused on maintaining
horse and ORV trail systems. This program was a defining experience for me because it allowed me to
gain some much needed work experience in the Environmental Science field. Through this program, I
earned two AmeriCorps Educational Awards, which enabled me to further pursue higher education.
My studies at Evergreen have primarily focused on the sciences. The programs I have taken covered a
wide range of subjects including Ecology, Geology and Biology. One of the most fulfilling experiences
during my Evergreen career was my internship with the Washington Department of Transportation in
their Wetlands Program two summers ago. This internship allowed me to gain the skills necessary to
pursue a career in the fields of Environmental Science and Ecology. The internship was also very
influential in regards to my academic pathway. Upon transferring to Evergreen, I initially was
interested in focusing my education on laboratory analysis of soil and water samples for contaminates.
After this internship I have changed my emphasis from Analytical Chemistry to more field-based work
in the areas of Ecology, Biology, and Botany. Since last spring I have placed on emphasis on studying
Field Ecology and Wildlife Biology. This trend continued into the summer when I took two field based
programs, Ecology of Flight and Summer Ornithology. These programs added to my previous
knowledge of wildlife identification and monitoring. In particular, I believe the Summer Ornithology
program was a defining experience for me, one which many people do not receive in a traditional
education. In the Summer Ornithology program, the students spend three weeks in Eastern Oregon
banding and studying the local bird populations. I feel this was a defining experience for me because it
enabled me to build on my previously existing knowledge of wildlife and gain hands on experience. In
my final quarter at Evergreen, I joined an ongoing research project with a faculty member. The goal of
this project is to study the long term changes occurring in the plant community and how these changes
are influencing the carbon cycle. A major component of this project will be an analysis of the data and
writing a scientific report based on the results. I believe this research project allowed me to obtain
many skills which are necessary to succeed in the work force. After graduating, I plan on pursuing a
career in Field Biology or Ecology.