I come from a family of worriers. My parents still ask me to text them when I arrive somewhere after traveling…and I haven’t lived with them for more than 20 years. So, I don’t typically take a lot of risks. A few years ago, I began thinking that I would have some interesting experiences if I took more risks. Rather than starting with something small, I decided to dive into the risk deep end. The idea of going back to school had been kicking around in my head for a little while and then I saw that a friend of mine, who is a professor at the University of Connecticut, was advertising for a PhD student. I don’t live in Connecticut and didn’t have plans to move there, but the second time I saw the advertisement, I decided to respond. Two years later, I left my job and entered the PhD program in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment at UConn. By the time I started, I was 10 years removed from getting my master’s degrees (not to mention 10+ years older than most other students in the department), had two young children, and lived 1.5 hours from campus. So far, I do not regret taking this big risk. I love the variety in my work, spending time in the field, lab, office, and classroom as a student and instructor. I intentionally got involved with a project, studying outcomes of wetland restoration on retired cranberry bogs, that would allow me to work with people from government agencies, NGOs, and other research institutions. My advisor has been a great combination of demanding and supportive. Other committee members, both at UConn and elsewhere, have been extremely generous with their time, advice, and data. All of the typical challenges of graduate school remain and are enhanced by living far away and having kids (not to mention the global pandemic), but I have a bit more perspective now than I did when I was 25. I like to think I am a little better at handling rejection and criticism, which is good, because graduate school is full of rejection and criticism. There is a lot of work, I have less time to sleep because I have more responsibilities outside of school, and I do feel badly that I cannot spend much time with the other graduate students, which is usually a highlight of graduate school. On the other hand, switching into kid mode after work every day provides important balance, and, occasionally, my kids moonlight as field assistants. This whole endeavor is made possible by support from my family and friends. Everyone was amazingly encouraging, and, as one friend said, life is both too short and too long to not make a change that you want to make. I know many people do not have this opportunity, and I feel extremely fortunate. I do think, though, that there are many ways to take risks, small and large, or ways we can push ourselves to grow and learn. I hope that I can continue to proactively seek out those opportunities.
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