My name is Kaitlyn and I am in the 3rd year of my B.Sc. Honours Earth Sciences with a concentration in Geophysics. From a young age I have had an interest in the earth sciences, however I never thought that I would end up going to school to study geology.
I grew up near a small privately owned rocks and minerals museum where my love of rock collecting began. From a very young age I would take rocks home from every beach, mountain, field or garden that I visited. This is a hobby that I have continued, and I now have quite a large collection of rocks, fossils and minerals that I am proud of.
As we lived on the West Coast, my parents often took me on trips to geological landmarks such as Mt. St. Helens, Crater Lake, lava tubes, and many more. On one such trip, I even got to travel to a town called Fossil where we went fossil hunting. Needless to say, many of those fossils made it into my collection.
In secondary school I began to be interested in physics. I loved the challenge that it gave me, and decided to pursue this in university. I had wanted to attend Carleton since moving to Ottawa and being enrolled in summer camps there where I grew to love the beautiful campus and the inviting atmosphere. Every alumni and current student that I knew had only positive things to say about the school. Rocks were still in the back of my mind. The summer before applying to university, I visited Blue Beach in Nova Scotia. This beach is known for the immense amount of fossils which are found on its shores. After spending an entire day there, my passion for geology was reinvigorated and I began to have second thoughts about physics as a career choice.
When I walked up to the Earth Sciences table, I just knew that this was the right fit for me. There were rocks and minerals and fossils all over the table, and the students and staff manning the booth were extremely helpful and obviously love what they do.
The night before the Carleton University open house, my parents showed me that Carleton has a Department of Earth Sciences and convinced me to look into their programs the following day. When I walked up to the Earth Sciences table, I just knew that this was the right fit for me. There were rocks and minerals and fossils all over the table, and the students and staff manning the booth were extremely helpful and obviously love what they do. It was some of the students at the booth who told me about the Geophysics program, where I could combine my love for geology and physics. When I toured the department for the first time, I felt like I was stepping into a whole new world. Every wall is covered with displays of the department’s collections. I then attended the Earth Science seminar. The presentation made me realize that the Earth Sciences covered an even larger scope than I previously thought, and that there were many different career options available.
At Carleton the professors are extremely approachable and go out of their way to help. The small Earth Science class sizes have allowed me to develop strong relationships with my peers and have afforded me many work and research opportunities including a job in my field my first year. I am so glad that I chose Earth Sciences and Geophysics at Carleton, and I look forward to completing my degree.