I knew from a very young age that I loved animals. I’d catch butterflies, go fishing, play with cats or dogs, hold snakes, and pet any animal there was to pet. I seriously just loved them all. When asked about who we wanted to be when we grew up, other kids were saying teachers and doctors and astronauts. I just wanted something with animals.

Fast forward to middle school, everyone started asking us kids what we wanted to do about college. Not very many of us had given it much thought. However I, with my somewhat crazy obsession with animals, said vet school. The school told me about my future high school’s completer programs and sent me off to do bigger and better things.

In high school I excitedly opted into the vet science completer. Halfway through my vet science completer program, I noticed I really didn’t want to be a vet. Domesticated animals are so common and the veterinary field is super competitive. It just wasn’t for me. I started looking at my options and realized that maybe something with natural resources was for me. Of course, there was only one college in the state of Maryland that offered a wildlife major. I packed up my things and headed out to Frostburg.

Now that I’m in college and majoring in Professional Wildlife, I realize that this is my passion. There’s no doubt that my place belongs in the sciences, but getting into my major’s classes is starting to get exciting, even as just a sophomore.

A lot of people don’t even know that Wildlife Majors exists and I always get “So... What kind of stuff do you do with that degree? What do you plan on doing?” I personally would like to become a wildlife technician. Watching shows on TV, I loved the idea of going out and doing field work or darting animals so that they could be measured and tagged. Just as when I was a kid, I want to pet the animals: always have always will.

The last thing that I would want would be some desk job. I like wildlife because I don’t particularly like people. I just want my animals and I want them safe.