Gap Year in Alaska Leads Fort Lewis College Student to Geology Major
Ally spent her gap year interning as a field assistant with a scientific organization and working in her father's stone masonry business. She graduated from Nederland High School in Colorado in 2006, a year early. She is a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, majoring in Geology. Read Ally's Blog about her amazing gap year adventure in Alaska, and learn about unique research internship and job opportunities in the solid earth sciences at UNAVCO and it's partner organizations.
After high school I was ready for a break. I needed some time to regroup, to recenter, to discover my passions and to take a deep breath. High school was hard for me. I put in maximum effort, was always striving to achieve the highest honors, to make the grade and follow the path that was expected of me. I knew I could not go right into college with this mindset of working all the time and stressing myself out. I needed a clean break from school for a while so that when I went to college I was ready to soak in the material and enjoy learning. I wanted to go to college with an excitement to learn, a new motivation, and a fresh outlook on life.
My family is always there for me and greatly encouraged me to take a year off. They told me that they would support me emotionally, but not financially. If I wanted to travel and roam in search for adventure, I would have to work and save for it. It was my adventure and with that came my responsibility. For a year before my time off I worked and saved as much as I could. I created a nice neighborhood business for myself as the nanny/house sitter and was a ski racing coach for the local race team. Once it came time for my year off, I was so happy that I had put the time and effort in to plan and save before graduation.
I love being outside, working with my hands, and being active, but prior to my year off I had no idea what I was really interested in studying or developing a career around. I decided that I would create a year for myself that emphasized my passions and would keep my horizons open to as many experiences as I could.
I was always looking for new opportunities to discover, so in talking with people I would mention my year off, my interests and if they had any suggestions for me. I was fortunate enough to hear about a scientific organization that needed field assistants to aid in the building of a network of permanent Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to track the movement of the Pacific and North American Plate boundary. In taking on these assistants the organization hoped to inspire students to pursue and learn more about the earth sciences. The student field assistants ranged from masters students to high school graduates.
For the last two summers for 4 months each I worked for UNAVCO Plate Boundary Observatory in Alaska. I worked side by side with the engineers building and maintaining the GPS network. They are installing 875 stations across the western U.S with 140 of those in Alaska. What an experience it was and the amount of learning, individual growth, and inspiration to want to work harder and know more was astonishing. When we were not in the field I did a lot of preparation work with getting gear together for the installs, making flight and hotel reservations, and entering data into the computer about the different sites. About half of the time I was in the field helping build the stations all across Alaska. Much of the stations were in remote areas with no road access so a helicopter was used on many of the installs. I learned much about power tools, bear and helicopter safety, group dynamics, working as a team, and about the amazing geology that was surrounding us.
These 8 months in Alaska were something that I will take with me and reflect on for the rest of my life. I now know that geology is my passion and that is what I will be pursuing as a career. I am a different person after my experience with UNAVCO. I have much more self-assurance, communication, leadership, team skills, and excitement to want to learn more about the earth.
Between spending summers in Alaska I assisted my father with his stone masonry business. I mixed mortar, hauled, cut and helped lay stone. It was grueling work, but I had a blast. I have always loved being active, working outside, and getting covered in dirt. It was fun to work side by side with my father and see the beautiful art that was created. I definitely have respect for anyone who goes into the trades and works with their hands for a living. It's tough, but very rewarding to physically see your accomplishments.
On my days off I skied and played outside as much as I could. It feels great to wake up in the morning and have no judgments, expectations, or competition to worry about. It was just me and myself making the best out of a beautiful day. It felt wonderful to be able to create a life that fueled me from the inside out.
After completing my first semester at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO as a Geology Major I know that my experiences during my gap year are more than I could have ever hoped for. In class I love every bit of work because I am studying what I enjoy and I want to learn more about the material. The geology texts come alive for me because when I am learning about subduction zones, volcanoes, and plate tectonics I can relate it right back to my experiences in Alaska.
In my year off I saw what life was like outside of my small town, I discovered my passions, and I developed skills that I could have never learned from a book or a classroom. My gap year put me on a fresh start, in a new direction and I am now following a path that inspires me. I encourage everyone to take a step back from the expected route of conventional schooling and take a little time to learn about yourself and discover what makes you happy.
