04/30/2025
Tomorrow I graduate.
It all began in 2020, when the world shut down and everything changed. At the time, I was a traveling freelance photographer, but suddenly, the places I needed to go were no longer accessible. I found myself at a crossroads: take a job as a biological weapons testing photographer on a military base in Utah, or enroll in school. When I learned that job would require me to be away from my family too much, I chose school, and that one decision changed everything.
I enrolled at USU as a biology major. Over the next two years of school, I also worked in a bug lab collecting water samples from local watersheds and identifying macroinvertebrates under a microscope to assess stream health. I spent nine months in an antiviral research lab, infecting and treating mice and hamsters to support drug development. This wasn’t my path.
I pivoted…hard…and entered the world of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. I completed my freshman and sophomore years simultaneously, and not long after, I discovered a niche that set my heart on fire: thematic and zoological design. From that point on, everything clicked…digital modeling, visualization, and storytelling through design became my passion.
For five years, I have been a full-time student, taking 15–18 in-person credits every semester, all while juggling one or two internships at a time. My program isn’t for the faint of heart…and this journey has taken grit, sleepless nights, self-doubt, and more tears than I can count. But it’s also taken hope, focus, faith, and the life-changing support of those around me.
I made a quiet promise to myself at the start: just do your best, don’t waste time, and see what happens.
I’m as surprised as anyone. I made the Dean’s List four times. I was awarded the A-PIN, the highest undergraduate scholarly achievement at USU. And now, I graduate with honors and step into my dream job with Walt Disney Imagineering.
I’m incredibly grateful to God, my family, friends, professors, and mentors for believing in me and walking beside me through it all. It’s been a wild, refining, unforgettable ride!!!
Photo Credit to , the love of my life! ❤️
