Kaitlyn Bretz

From a young age I have sprinted towards opportunity with open arms. My family moved from the suburbs of Cincinnati to a rural village near Oxford, Ohio when I was six, and less than two years later I was heavily involved in 4-H and showing cattle. When I was eight I managed to raise and train my calf, Hephaestus, to the point where he would follow me without a lead rope. Then throughout primary school I wanted to be a marine biologist and explore the oceans and in high school I realized that in order to achieve my goals of traveling the world, I needed to leave my hometown. Fast forward a few years and I am over 500 miles away from my family, studying environmental science at the University of South Carolina. From here, my new goal has shifted to simply put myself in unfamiliar territory and force myself to learn and adapt: the summer after my first year at college, I took a job as a summer canvasser in Anchorage, Alaska and spent 12 weeks walking through Alaska; the summer after my sophomore year I worked in Columbia, South Carolina as a research assistant and South Carolina Honors College Orientation Leader; this summer I will be working in Silver Spring, Maryland with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); lastly, this fall I will be studying abroad in Bali, Indonesia. My experiences of putting myself in unfamiliar places doing work I am unaccustomed to has taught me the importance of thinking on my feet and having a steep learning curve.

 

My first semester at the University of South Carolina provided me with opportunities that many first-years did not have. Because of my advanced placement (AP) credits, I was able to enroll in upper-level science and English courses, effectively challenging myself to develop writing skills and research techniques that juniors should have. Honors BIOL 303: Genetics was taught by Dr. Bert Ely, a professor who believes whole-heartedly that students learn the most by teaching themselves. So, Genetics was taught as a graduate-level course but for undergraduate credit: I had to teach myself how to find, read, and understand published research articles, develop a presentation so I could teach my peers what I learned in the articles, and then write a term paper on three articles that I selected. The final exam then consisted of questions about different students’ term papers, with many of the questions asking us to develop research proposals and methodology from the term papers. BIOL 303: Genetics was one of the hardest classes I have taken at USC, but in retrospect, was one of the classes I learned the most from. I discovered that I was able to teach myself how to search for academic articles, effectively read and understand the papers, and then develop future research questions and procedures from the information I read. These are skills which I use in my research and have helped me immensely throughout my upper-level courses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As BIOL 303: Genetics taught me, the best way to learn is to force yourself into a situation where you have no choice but to teach yourself. This attitude is what caused me to take a summer position as a canvasser for the Alaska Center for the Environment in Anchorage, Alaska. I initially didn’t even know what a canvasser was, but I knew that whatever I ended up doing, I would eventually become good at it if I worked hard throughout the summer. This was the second time I had put myself in a place where I knew absolutely no one and was the first place where I had no resources or back-up plans in place. So I spent twelve weeks as a canvasser, going door to door and asking people to sign petitions I would later send to the EPA that urged them to put a stop to the development of the Pebble Mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay. I pushed myself to develop better communication skills, to ‘fake it until I made it,’ and volunteered to do more canvassing shifts outside of REI stores and during public festivals. Because I volunteered for extra assignments, I was eventually able to travel outside of Anchorage with a select group of canvassers. We traveled to Palmer and Wasilla, Seward, and throughout the Kenai Peninsula, to Soldotna, Ninilchik, and Homer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up contacting over 2000 people during my time in Alaska and got about 58% of the people I spoke to sign my petitions. My hard work and dedication to raising awareness about the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay allowed me to develop stronger communication skills, advocate for the environment, while also traveling through southern Alaska.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My experience in Alaska has shown me that I am up for just about anything and that I can adjust to a new place and be successful. My work in BIOL 303: Genetics proved to me that research was in fact fun and interesting and that if I simply pushed myself I could learn the basic fundamental research methodologies and develop research proposals on my own. I have formal research experience today because Dr. Ely’s course gave me the basic skills to work in a lab, and from there, I have taught myself of variety of research-focused skills. My future goals include pursuing a doctorate degree at a graduate program on the west coast, teaching myself Bahasa Indonesia, and studying in Bali, Indonesia. I am confident that my constant ventures into the unknown will push me to adjust to the unfamiliar and gain new skills and experiences that many people do not have. I look forward to spending my future traveling and learning new things, and I hope to never sit still or settle for the familiar.