After reflecting on what originally got me into geosciences, I can see that as a young girl, it was the colorful gems and jewelry that peaked my interest in geology.

When I was in first grade, on a family trip to Colorado, my parents took me to the Argo Mill and Gold Mine in Idaho Springs in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, a half hour outside of Denver. At Argo Mill, I learned about the different rock formations in Colorado, the forces constantly wearing and tearing on our Earth, and how Iron Pyrite (or “Fool’s Gold”) started a false gold rush. As I look back, I can see this trip to Argo Mill was the moment I first became captivated by geology, an interest that has since continued to grow through experiences I have had, for example, at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, in my earth science classes in middle school and throughout high school, and on various class modeling projects, such as a shield volcano I constructed in middle school and a weather predictor I created.

Although these activities interested in my early education years, I didn't realize that I was experiencing the geosciences when I designed a shield volcano, or looked at birthstone jewelry at the mall, or went on family hikes in Utah and Arizona. Through the geoscience ambassador program, I hope to bring awareness to the geoscientific significance in our daily lives.