6 Long Years ago...

[Smalls]

I set out on a mission over 6 years--to do something no one else in my family had done. That was to graduate from college. Both my parents had gone to school at different times, but never finished. I knew I wanted to be a wildlife biologist, so off to college it was to get a degree in wildlife management. So 3 1/2 years later, in December of 2010, I graduated with my B.S. in Wildlife Management and an Honors endorsement for meeting all the requirements of the McNeese Honors College. Got a nice big medal for that one. But I knew, in the field of wildlife, a B.S. was likely to get me a technician job. Not good enough.

So off to graduate school it was. I started working full-time at this point too, and luckily was able to do my research through my job. So after 2 1/2 more years of school, a successful thesis defense, an 80-page thesis, and 5 signatures later, I am set to graduate with my M.S. in Environmental and Chemical Sciences on saturday. This has been the greatest accomplishment in my life to date. To do something that no one in my family has done before, to be the only one in my fall 2007 freshman class to do this, it is a great feeling.

Now, I would just like to say thank you to the Salty Cajun Community for all those arguements over Coastal Restoration or whatever the discussion might have been. It was many of those conversations that drove me to do more research, and helped me further my thesis research, which was on that very subject as some of you might know. Strangely enough, I owe a lot of that to "W"altrip and the many times we have argued. So thanks guys, this may be one of the few times this is ever said on SC, but I've learned a lot of useful things from argueing with ya'll. :*****: