Undergraduate, non-traditional student in my Junior year at SDSU. Double major: Geography and GIS. Double Minor: Sociology and Computer Science. Cooperative and collaborative, team-oriented. After 20 + years as an Iron worker, General Contractor and Project Manager, my health deteriorated to the point of requiring 3 major surgeries. Unable to work, I have been attending school for the last 5 years. After the 1st year and a half attending STI for Nuclear Medicine, I was told that I would never be hired due to epilepsy. I pushed on and came to SDSU with the intention of being a teacher and found a new identity in GIS and Geography. I have slowly gotten stronger and am finding new and wonderful opportunities that I never even dreamed of. This May I will be studying abroad to gain experience as a Scientific and Rescue diver, researching Coral reefs. ln addition, I will study the ongoing changes in climate in the Arctic Circle, and the wetlands of the Prairie ecosystem. I will be bringing back the real-world skills needed to become a Remote Sensing scientist and perhaps gain employment with USGS EROS data center. I continue to volunteer in Conservation efforts assisting Sd Game Fish and Parks teach the next generation basic fire- building skills and inspire in them a love for nature. I also volunteer teaching conversational English to foreign students. My life hasn't turned out like I planned, but I am glad to be learning constantly. I have ambitions of changing the paradigm of education, and helping others to become who they were born to be.