One of the greatest experiences I have had in college happened over this past summer. It started the semester prior when I started a job working in a research lab at the Wyoming State Vet Lab. It was a great job through the university that easily fit in with my school schedule. It became more than that and granted me the chance of a lifetime. That summer we took a two week trip to Uganda. I remember writing the proposal for scholarship funds thinking, “This isn’t really happening. You don’t just get offered a trip to Africa.” In fact, I maintained that mindset up until we were loading a car to drive down to Denver.
Now we were off on this wild adventure where I learned so much. Some were more serious scholarly topics such as gaining more experience presenting to other scientists, sitting in on disease control meetings, and even just learning about the local wildlife. For example, this is Sushi a shoebill stork that we met at the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre. Now to make a good impression on Sushi you have to mimic his movements whether that be bowing, shaking your head, or just looking very unimpressed with the world. I also fed a baby elephant and a giraffe that looked about as impressed with me as Sushi did. It was truly the highlight of my college career so far.
Some less scholarly lessons including learning the art of negotiating, how to entertain yourself in an airport for about 9 hours without sleeping, how to sleep under a mosquito net, and how to start school 6 days after returning from your trip without jet lag killing you.
College is such an amazing time where there are so many wonderful opportunities to have these crazy experiences. I am so grateful to The College of Ag. They are part of why this job even existed for me to take advantage of. It allowed me to meet so many amazing and different people and truly take my knowledge miles and miles beyond the classroom.
So my advice to any current or future students is to keep your eyes out for opportunities like this and when they come jump on them. When you look back at college you won’t remember every test, project, or even class that you took, but you will remember adventures like these.
-Meagan Soehn