Myriam Loving
Montereau, France
"Science is for everybody!"
I graduated from the High School in Avon, France back in 2002 with a concentration in communication. Higher education was never a big part of the conversation in my family so I started working shortly upon graduating. After coming to the United-States in 2008, I realized that attending college could be in the cards for me. In 2015, I graduated from UTSA with a bachelors in geology. I am now pursuing my master's degree at UT austin where I study mangroves.
My Pathway
I grew up in France, in a town called Montereau. As a teenager, I never pictured myself doing science. My goal was to graduate high school and get a "decent paying job".
For a few years I worked as a customer service agent for Air France and I loved meeting people from a multitude of places. However, I did not feel like it should be my career.
After coming to the United States, where my husband was pursuing his bachelors in mechanical engineering, I realized that I should not settle for just a decent job. I could do so much more.
I chose geology because it sparked my curiosity. Geosciences are so diverse and there is so much to learn.
The surprising thing is...
I would have never thought that I would be pursuing a Masters in geosciences. I had average grades in high school and was told to go into the administrative field. Fast forward to 2022 and I am a mother and part of a great geoscience community at UT Austin.
Lessons
As cliché as this may be, I owe being in geosciences to a little box of minerals that my mother gave me as a child. I thought it was "so cool," but I never thought I could do science.
So believe in yourself! Believe you can do it! Science is accessible to all of us. Most importantly, do not let society trap you in their stereotype box. Do not put yourself in that box. We can all do science.