 If I sound like I'm excited about this profession, I truly am. Here I am now at Forsythe Technical Community College, developing a program here, Environmental Health Science, which I am so proud of. What's so unique about the Environmental Health Science profession? Not only do we monitor our outdoor environment, we monitor our indoor environment. That means that some students who are in love with nature, love fishing, love golfing, love skiing, or any outdoor activity, they do these activities and then know that this is something that they want to do for the rest of their lives in terms of protecting that precious environment. We have students at this program that come from all backgrounds. We have some that have transferred in from other institutions. We have students that have graduated right from high school and decided that that's what they were interested in. Then we have other students that have come back to retrain and develop themselves academically in the area of environmental science. I'm excited about all of the diverse opportunities available to an environmental science graduate. I'm looking forward to exploring careers such as park management, erosion control, forestry, and even conservation. I ran a restaurant downtown for 12 years and after the economic downturn, I decided to go back to school to change my career. I didn't know what to do at first. I was leaning towards nanotechnology, but I stumbled upon an environmental biology class which really sparked my interest. I went to law school and I worked in environmental law, but then I wanted to work with people on the ground and sort of have a direct impact and that's why I ended up doing river keeping. A lot of times I'm outdoors, I might be on a roof, I might be climbing some ladders looking at different sources from different angles, going into all types of manufacturing facilities and walking around. I think if you look at environmental science, it's a concern that a lot of companies and government entities have. So there's a lot of work if you have that background and you're working for cities, counties. We work with a lot of laboratories and sampling companies that do compliance work for big private entities. So there's a lot of work in environmental science just to help me understand what we have in our rivers and streams. We've made a lot of strides in the recycling industry. When it first started out, it was in an infant stage with every municipality in the state of North Carolina. But right now it is soaring beyond the high seat. I think it is in the next 10 years just telling what this program is going to be. Although they come in and get an associate degree in environmental health science, many of my students see the need to go on to a four-year institution. Since that was recognized early on when developing this program, we decided to develop a number of articulation agreements with surrounding colleges and universities. And what that does is help students to leave with a two-year degree and go right into another institution as a junior where they only have two more years to complete before graduation. I love being out on the river. I've got a dog and it's great to be able to take him out on the water with you when you go to work and also just interacting with people in the basin. People are really at the heart of what we do and that's where we draw our strength as an organization. So I love being with people on the river. I'm passionate about environmental science because I want to preserve the natural beauty of the environment for my children and future generations to come.