The Start, The Continuation.

Well, a little bit about myself seems to be the best way to start this. My name is Jennifer Lee. I'm 20 years old and currently live just outside of Port Angeles, WA with my family. I spent the first 13.9 years of my life, however, in Northern California living in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Specifically, the city of Vallejo.) It was a culture shock to move from a city of 130,000 people to a town of little over 20,000 however it was nice to move to a safer environment and a real backyard. While I get very, very tired of living in a somewhat culturally-repressed area, the beauty of the Pacific Northwest takes my breath away. Living outside of town allows us to fill our 3 or so acres with cute and fluffies. We have two cats, one dog, two anklebiters, two sheep, two goats, bunch o' chickens, a duck, and my brother.

My hobbies cover a wide range of topics and ideas. I'm visually creative; I enjoy photography (expect pictures), knitting, beading, cooking/baking, pottery, and adding flourish to life. I'm a very physical person; I love hiking, gardening, rollerblading, tennis, football, and soccer. I, however, hate running. I read anything I can get my hands on and I am a complete bibliophile. My room is 75% bookshelves and there are still piles of books around. I also enjoy a wide variety of movies from old classics, musicals (only three exceptions... Grease, Oklahoma, and Carousel), action flicks, comedies, and though I'm loathe to admit it, I have a large collection of chick flicks. My music taste covers a huge range. It's actually easier to list what I don't listen to rather than what I do... Very long list of two things; acid rock (or any other "music" that consists of nothing more than a headache-inducing pulse and screaming) and polka. I'd much rather eat rocks. Conversely, I also like doing math problems for fun and blowing things up in chem labs (something I'm very, very good at...even accidentally... The hair grew back!!!).

But, should anyone actually be reading this, I bet you're wondering what any of this has to do with my "Adventure in Science." Well, truth be told, I'm a science nut. I love being able to ask "Why?" and actually learn the answer. I've taken every science course I can get my hands on. In high school, I was the third ever sophomore to take the Astronomy/Geology (generally used as credit recovery classes, not special interest) series and the first ever female sophomore to do it. The only reason I waited until my 2nd year was freshman are barred from the classes. In college, I've taken both the Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Biology series and this fall, I started the Calculus-based Physics series. Note: You will hear much ranting, screaming, venting, and otherwise cathartic, if useless, nonsense about this class. There might even be a tiny bit of whining but I hate doing it/hearing it so that should be kept to a minimum.

With my love for all things science, I did find my passion. I was taught a newly found topic by one of my favorite lecturers, Dr. Dwight Barry. On my very first day of Running Start, my very first class at 8 am was Environmental Science. I had had a summer camp through a wonderful group, Olympic Park Institute called "The Advanced Field Science Program." I know... very imaginative.... and had come to love creating my own research projects but he really opened my eyes about field studies and "impact" surveys. I learned about K capacity and it's uselessness unless you like pretty graphs. I fell in love. Head over heels. But even further than that! Not only did I cement what I wanted to do with my life, I also met my best friend and my (probable) future ball-and-chain.

Toward the end of his class, Dwight told me about a brand new research project that was going on right here on the Olympic Peninsula that would fit me perfectly. Well me, being only a little stubborn (and only a little sarcastic), waited. The next year, I got my application in too late. Yay... So I watched a friend of mine go through the project and heard her frustrations and elations. Finally, I got my application in, completed and on time. Then there was the wait. Dr. Brian Hauge (my Biology professor at the time) was in charge of informing the applicants whether or not we were accepted into the program. I took a break in the middle of my art class (yes, I was in a fluff course... I wanted to learn how to sketch and I needed the credit) to be the first to know if I was in. After a bit of sadistic pleasure in my agony, he told me I was in. WOOOHOOO!



My story will continue in our next segment. Stay tuned.