Bill Kuhn Science Scholarship

My name is Montana Mitchell, I attend Kalkaska High school. I am pursuing a career in biology. Plants and animals are things I enjoy learning about. When I was younger I always knew that I wanted to have a career that involved the outdoors. One thing that really clicked for me was when I was in Biology, in the 10th grade. We were learning about the different parts of the cell. Being able to understand how each part has a certain role to play and being able to do that over and over again until the plant dies. A way that I can make a positive impact on the world through my career, is by being able to understand how plants and animals adapt to their surroundings and how we as humans impact the world around us. I would also like to continue to find solutions to problems that are impacting the world. Whether it's a small problem or a big problem, I would like to find solutions to these problems. I enjoy having the ability to do something good for people, animals, and plants. Mr. Olds is one teacher that has pushed me to think critically about the world around me. Mr. Olds was my biology teacher, and he was one person that made me really want to do biology for a career. He brought this one topic up about the Algal Bloom. The Algal Bloom is a rapid increase of algae in a freshwater ecosystem. When he brought this topic up we had to research what it was, how it was produced, how it impacted the environment, and what are some of the ways we could reduce these rapid algal blooms. Being able to come up with different ways to help the environment and the things living in it is one of the reasons I am pursuing a career in sciences.Another teacher that has also helped me decide on a career in science is Mrs. Cotton. Mrs. Cotton would bring us out to the school forest and we would test the Ph and temperature of the water and soil. These tests made us look at local places around us and see what's going on. In that class we discussed what was impacting the soils and what soils were best for plants to live in. Being in these classes with these teachers changed my perspective about how I see the environment in which these plants and animals live.