Long Time, No Post

So it has been quite awhile since I've updated on this blog, and a lot has happened since then.

I am not the new Outdoor Recreation Planner at Salt Plains NWR. The previous ORP, as you may remember, left in Sept. 2007, and I left in Oct. 2007, expecting the ORP job to be posted on the government jobs website within a week or two. Instead, the job actually posted after Thanksgiving. By that time, I had applied to anther job in Washington state, and was looking at conservation biology masters programs across the country.

I found lots of amazing programs doing some wonderful things, and when the ORP job came open I decided that my best choice was to go ahead and finish with my education and experience something outside Oklahoma.

I narrowed my choice down to three programs: 1) The Biodiversity, Conservation, and Policy masters program at SUNY Albany, 2) The Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development/Environmental Policy dual masters program at the University of Maryland, College Park, and 3) The Masters in Environmental Management program at Duke.

I was accepted into SUNY and UMD. I haven't heard anything back from Duke, but it's pretty late in the year for accepting students, so I'm thinking I didn't make it.

After visiting both schools, I have decided the one that fits me best is the program at Maryland. I had a wonderful time visiting their school - I spent a lot of time with graduate students who were in the same position I was: young, ambitious, and idealistic. The program offers many diverse classes, so I can really get a good idea of what's out there and which aspect of conservation biology I am most interested in. At the end of 3 years (and 60 credits) I will hold two masters degrees, and I am very excited about that.

The campus is also gorgeous - it's very stately. Lots of rolling hills and red brick buildings with tall white columns. The fox squirrels are black there - which really startled me the first time I saw it. I whole-heartedly approve of the campus' mascot - the Diamondback Terrapin, named Testudo. Testudo has a long and dramatic history: http://www.umd.edu/testudo.html. And he is the turtle whose nose I am rubbing in the picture at the top (it's for good luck).

Here are some pictures of the buildings where I'll be taking a lot of my classes. The first is the building where I'll have my cons bio classes and the second is where I'll have all of my policy classes:



So while I am waiting for fall semester to roll around, and inbetween searching for funding and housing at Maryland, I am a substitute teacher. It's been an interesting experience, and I have learned a lot in how to teach children efficiently. I've taught everything from pre-kindergarten to seniors in high school, although I mainly work at the elementary school. That's fine with me, as I don't get a lot of respect at the high school - I still look too much like them. I have liked some of the classes I've taught, but I don't think I'll miss substituting much after I'm done.

As you might expect, I am rather impatiently waiting for August 2008 to get here. Completely ready to start my new adventure.