Name/ Major/ Where you consider home to be or where you currently live: 
My name is Rona Bryan, and I’m about to graduate with a post-bacc B.S. in natural resources with an individualized specialty option in art, education, and outreach and a minor in fisheries & wildlife sciences. I was born and raised in Hood River, Oregon and currently live in Salem.

Why did you choose the NR program and OSU College of Forestry? 
After I finished my first degree in art, I ended up serving and bartending for many years and always felt like I was missing a part of myself. As soon as I realized that I wanted to go back to school to study the natural world, OSU was my #1 choice. The fact that I could get a degree through Ecampus without entirely disrupting the life I had already built was even better. I chose the NR program because I wanted to apply my art background to my science studies, and the College of Forestry was open to that kind of interdisciplinarity in ways that set them apart from other options.

What do you hope to do after graduation? 
After graduation, I’ll be jumping right into OSU’s Master of Natural Resources program to delve deeper into my research on art and design in natural resources. Once I complete that program, I hope to work in an outreach and education capacity to increase the accessibility of science communication, bolster ecological literacy, and foster public engagement in environmental issues. 

What was your favorite experience or class or professor and why? 
I’ve had too many amazing classes and professors to pick just one, but any class that incorporated getting out in the field as a regular part of the curriculum never failed to recharge and inspire me. Collectively, engaging in hands-on work with the soils, waters, fish, vegetation, and ecosystems that are right in my backyard has been one of the best experiences of my life.