Derichee Nkogallogo Memorial Scholarship

My name is Kelly and I am an undergraduate at the University of Houston Downtown. Being a geologist is not going to be just a job for me, but a life style. I am super passionate about nature and the outdoors which is what led me to study geology. I am currently in the Honors program for Natural Sciences and am conducting research to write an undergraduate thesis. My research area is the Clearwater metamorphic core complex located in western Idaho. This past summer I spent a month collecting rock samples and mapping the area. What I love about geology is that I get to spend months outdoors camping in pristine and usually very remote areas. Geology provides a window into the history of our planet and also how the solar system formed which is honestly one of the final frontiers of science in my opinion. I have never been so inspired to learn and absorb every bit of information possible about a subject until I stumbled upon my current field. I initially learned about geology while working at one of the largest construction sites in the US. As a part of our initial training, there was a video that showed how geologists worked with the project management to clean up and restore the shoreline that would be the future construction site. As a person that has always been very passionate about the environment, this sparked my interest in the field of environmental geology and I enrolled that same year in the environmental geoscience program at UHD. I have since then changed my concentration to geochemistry, but am still very active in volunteering with environmental organizations such as the Galveston Bay association. Not a single day goes by that I do not fall more in love with geology. School is not work for me but a passion! Iaddition to studying at UHD, I have also worked at the university as their first ever geoscience TA. I assisted with Mineralogy and Petrology lecture and lab during 2023. I am very passionate about my field of study and I really enjoy helping others. As a person living with ADD, it has not been easy for me to succeed in classes unless I found them really interesting or could see how topics would be applied in the future. I always struggled with prerequisite classes like calculus and physics. It brings me so much joy and satisfaction to help other students that I tutor make the connections between classes that might not be their favorite, and show them how the concepts they are learning will help them in their future geology classes. This year I will begin applying for graduate schools so that I can complete my masters and then my PhD. Wish me luck!