I am originally from Thornton, Colorado, but I grew up running around the mountains of southern Colorado. Naturally, I had to select a degree in college that allowed me to combine my love of the outdoors with a passion to see what lies beyond Earth. During my time as a Geoscience undergraduate, I involved myself with lab work in Julio Sepulveda and Alexis Templeton’s Geobiology labs learning about novel techniques used to understand how life could persist on other planets and be detected. I came to love this program because of the professors, graduate students and my peers that all provided support to me. I always felt heard and included in discussions facilitated by professors; the graduate students were always willing to help; my undergraduate peers were just as passionate about what we were learning as I was. I think that really added to the culture of the Geoscience department and is why I found my home away from home in Benson. From my time here I learned so many transferable skills which I now use as a Lab Tech at the USGS Water Quality lab in Boulder. I am planning to attend graduate school to further my knowledge in the area of geomicrobiology and I hope to someday work at NASA.