I was a student at the University of Wyoming from 2016-2019, leaving just before completing my bachelor's degree. I'm returning to Laramie this summer to rejoin the school and pick up my classes from where I left off. My path to accomplishing my academic goals and finishing my higher education has been a long one, and not without trials. Financial stressors have always been a barrier to accomplishing my academic goals. Despite Uwyo's exceptionally affordable tuition, Laramie's low cost of living, and Wyoming's generous scholarship programs, it's challenging to finance college without taking on debt. I spent my summers as a wildland firefighter, working at times 100+ hour weeks to finance the academic year while preparing for my future. Now, pursuing my passions in low-paying fields such as leadership, outdoor education, and mentorship, finances have become an even greater barrier to the completion of my degree. Scholarships are the only thing that makes my attendance possible. I've also faced personal struggles and hardships in my academic pursuits. I, like many others in Laramie, struggled with my mental health, causing me to lose focus, energy, drive, and at times, hope. I struggled to know what I truly wanted from my college experience, and it caused me to be listless in the pursuit of my future. I felt pressure from my family, from society, and not least of all, from myself to achieve at a high standard. It eventually pushed me to leave school entirely to better understand my goals. Not until now, three years later, do I feel prepared to reapply myself to the world of academia. I'm lucky to have a varied, and fairly extensive series of work experiences that have helped to shape my competence and understanding. I spent four seasons working as a wildland firefighter in Wyoming. During this time I worked in every corner of the state, including the Medicine Bow National Forest, and all across the USA protecting our wilderness areas and national forests. I've spent time working as a wilderness therapy field guide in central Oregon, helping me to hone my outdoor education skills, mentorship practices, and crisis management strategies. I furthered my leadership tactics, business management, and resource conservation skills at Patagonia Frontiers in southern Chile, where I worked as the Work Crew Lead, Lead Instructor, and Operations Manager. I've spent time working as a contractor, a facilities manager, a lifeguard, a wilderness EMT, and an EMT instructor. My varied experience gives me an understanding of how each element of a business intertwines with another, and has emphasized the importance of exemplary leadership, good education, and strong teamwork. I've worked to contribute to my communities wherever I can, and plan to continue to do so as I re-enter Laramie and the University of Wyoming. I've helped to defend our natural places as a wildland firefighter, protecting homes, habitats, and natural resources. I've offered support and mentorship for youths & young adults in need, positively impacting at-risk students in crisis. I've been an educator of several subjects including wilderness medicine, natural resource conservation, and non-violent communication; contributing to a more skilled, informed, and caring community. I've volunteered for causes I believe in, and never hesitate to offer a helping hand. I know that true satisfaction comes from acts of service and altruism, and that it takes intention and energy to build a thriving, healthy community. I plan to use the skills I've developed over recent years to further impact Laramie and make it a better place for all of its residents through strong leadership, empathy, and education.

I don't live what many would consider a "traditional" life. I dropped out of college to travel the world. I've visited five of the seven continents and lived on four of them. I've backpacked through the wilderness of New Zealand's Kahurangi Range, traversed glaciers in the wilderness of Patagonia, and swam with sharks off of the coast of Honduras. When I was seventeen I designed my own study-abroad curriculum, presented it to my school, enrolled at a university in Southern Spain, and lived there alone for four months. I came back to my high school to win a swimming state championship. I've made my living as a wildland firefighter, an artist, an expedition guide, and a wilderness EMT. I've marched into infernos and battled forces of nature with a pulaski and a chainsaw. I'm capable of improvising a litter and organizing a search and rescue mission. I've lived off of commissions from selling my ceramics, and I'm just as comfortable re-stringing a guitar as I am setting an axe head. I've been a leader and a mentor as a Wilderness Therapy Field Guide, where I provided mentorship and guidance to troubled youth in crisis. I continued to hone those skills in the wilderness of Patagonia where I led a team of 6; guiding expeditions, managing personnel, and coordinating logistics. I've taught classes to student groups deep in the backcountry and in front of whiteboards. All of this is to say, I have never been afraid to forge my own path. I've never let the social norm dictate how I live my life, and I never plan to. I've chased my curiosities around the globe and pushed myself towards personal growth in every way that I can. I'm now coming to realize that the next step in my process is to share those experiences and support others in pursuit of the possibilities and paths before them. I'm re-enrolling at the same university that I left three years ago, and I plan to give back to my community by finding avenues to invest my time and energy into it. I have come to believe that true satisfaction comes from shared joy and shared success; and that the more we put into our communities, the more we get out of them. I consider myself very lucky to have acquired the experiences and learned the lessons that I have, and now I find myself wanting to use those lessons to make my home a more open, caring, and exciting place to be. My background in leadership makes me an ideal candidate to organize community improvement projects and facilitate student engagement. Exposure to the world's cultures brings me an understanding and empathy for those who feel out of place or underappreciated. A lifetime's worth of incredible mentors will help me carry the torch into positions like job coaching and organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters. My unique life has given me skills, experiences, and wisdom that few others are privileged with. I've already affected positive change in communities around the world, and now I'm perfectly poised to make it a priority in my own home. I understand the value of hard work, honesty, and creativity to the same depth that I understand the power of being unique, breaking the mold, and going against the grain.

In the fall of 2019, I was a senior at the University of Wyoming. I was an A student, on the dean's list, and a part of my school's honor program. I was involved in the ceramic's guild, I volunteered at my local soup kitchen, and I was well-loved by my friends and peers. From an outside perspective, I was a successful, accomplished young student with a promising future. I was also slipping deeper and deeper into the pit of addiction, substance abuse, depression, and suicidality. I came to a point where I was taking hard drugs daily, slowly watching my future and my hope slip away farther and farther away. I was using before class, before work, before social gatherings. There were days that it was the first thing I did in the morning. I felt isolated, ashamed, and petrified of seeking outside help. I left University that semester to change my circumstance, change my direction, and hopefully rewrite the trajectory of my life. Years later, after getting sober and fighting hard to overcome my addictions, I pursued a job in the Deschutes National Forest as a wilderness therapy field guide. I wanted to use my extensive outdoor knowledge and empathetic nature to help others and learn about myself in the process. I worked with students who struggled with a wide variety of issues; addiction and substance abuse often among them. I learned that addiction is usually a symptom of something under the surface and how more and more teens are turning to substances to cope with trauma, grief, or neurological dysfunctions. The experience was not only a chance to help a community with whom I greatly empathized but also an opportunity to learn more about my personal circumstance and history. It gave me an avenue through which I could begin to more deeply understand my addictive tendencies and eventually shine a light on the patterns that contribute to them. My time at Deschutes Wilderness Therapy was enlightening, rewarding, and ultimately changed the way I interact with myself and others. It was also incredibly challenging, and it showed me how much more there is to learn surrounding the complexities of mental wellness and its intersection with addiction. Now my interest in psychology, teen addiction, and substance use disorders only continues to grow. I'm returning to school to finish my degree and deepen my understanding of these issues. I hope to re-engage in wilderness and adventure therapy with more qualifications under my belt and more tools at my disposal. The truth is, I have much more to learn, and I don't fully know where this trajectory will take me; but I feel a responsibility to give back. Above all else, I hope to serve others who find themselves mired in addiction, substance abuse, and underlying mental health crises. I hope to help others by lessening the isolation, shame, and stigma that consumed me and continue to paralyze so many like me. I felt alone because I was an addict, and I became more addicted the more alone I felt. I hope to provide to others what I didn't have; a supportive, non-judgmental mentor who understands the circumstance and the struggle.