Grad School Statement

Below is an excerpt from my Graduate school application, written in 2013:I love the outdoors and I have for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Colorado. My earliest memories were playing out behind my house, which at the time sat on a mountainside bordered by forest. I could go for miles out the backdoor before running into another structure. I would spend all day out there playing in the forest. While growing up I continued to play and spend a lot of time outdoors. I started backpacking, and hiking. My favorites have always been the five to seven day trips. I have always practiced Leave No Trace principles. I grew up with these because of my uncle; who was a BLM River Ranger and Biologist. However, it was not until in high school and college I really got into learning and dabbling in sustainability.Sustainability is not only part of the masters degree, the other part is the tourism aspect. Growing up in Durango, a major tourist destination, I have seen all kinds of growth. Unfortunately, none of this growth was planned out in a well thought way let alone with sustainability in mind. If Durango had planned growth better I believe it could have retained more of its natural beauty. A prime example of this is the valley North of town. When I was little and we drove up the valley it was not uncommon to see a a herd or multiple herds of elk. These herds could have up to one hundred elk. Unfortunately, as time has passed most of this farmland became developed. Right where we use to see these herds a housing development and golf course was built. Now it is very rare to see elk in the valley. If and when you see elk in the valley the herd is much smaller. The largest herd I have seen in recent memories counted about ten. I believe this loss, which once use to cause tourists to pull over and take pictures, could have been prevented. Another example is what was once called the Animas La Plata Project. It has now turned into Lake Nighthorse. The original proposal called to damn up the Animas river, one of the last un-damned rivers in the United States. This had not only huge environmental concerns but also tourism concerns. At the time there were eight rafting companies with fishermen on one side fighting the people who thought a lake would draw tourists. Needless to say there were plenty of debates . In the end The Animas was not damned, instead a limited amount of water is siphoned off. Growing up in Durango afforded me the aspect of seeing environmental impacts happen from both a bad planning and a good planning standpoint. Another great thing about growing up in Durango is the fact it is a tourist community. People come from all over the world for Mesa Verde and for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. My first couple jobs during high school were in the tourism sector, from being a raft guide to working at the rodeo.  I got to interact with the tourists and learned what they wanted from a trip. I also got to observe the use of the natural resources, another big draw for the tourists.My undergrad degree was both a good and bad thing for me. It was a bad thing because I had very little time to be outside and it pulled me to more of an indoor lifestyle. This indoor life style did make me lose direction on where I wanted to end up. College also put me on my current career track, even though it is not what I majored in. I currently work in the I.T. industry; however, my degree is in technical theatre. My undergrad education was a good thing in that I learned a lot and gave me a long term idea I want to pursue. My senior thesis involved writing a business proposal for a sustainable theatre. I tried to look at all aspects of this theatre company. This ranged from the name of the company to building the space from the ground up in order to lessen the environmental impact. I also took a look at the day to day operations. I ended up writing this in the Style of an RFP to try to have this company be as flushed out as I could. I believe that one can have a theatre which follows green practices and draws in a crowd.

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