{"id":861,"date":"2021-01-13T18:27:33","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T18:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/?p=861"},"modified":"2021-01-13T18:27:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T18:27:34","slug":"undergraduate-qa-radford-bean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/2021\/01\/13\/undergraduate-qa-radford-bean\/","title":{"rendered":"Undergraduate Q&A: Radford Bean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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TRAL – Outdoor Recreation Management<\/a>
Class of 2022
Hometown: McMinnville, Oregon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you get interested in this particular field?\u00a0<\/em>
I attended an outdoor recreation conference hosted by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department at OSU three years ago. I am a big outdoor recreation enthusiast who enjoys sea kayaking, canoeing, snowshoeing, camping, fishing, scuba diving, and snow skiing, so it seemed only natural that I would be drawn to a program that fit in with my interests. I had graduated three decades earlier with a degree in biology with a focus in wildlife biology but have spent the last 20 years doing web development and technical writing. I longed to get back outdoors for work and thought outdoor recreation management might get me there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What brought you to OSU?<\/em>
Simply put, OSU was close. I could continue working full-time for the state while attending school. It\u2019s certainly not the least costly university to attend, as I found out, but convenience was the big deciding factor, especially since many of the TRAL courses still are not offered through Ecampus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the best experience you\u2019ve had as a student?<\/em>
This is a tough question to answer because COVID has negatively impacted my experience. One reason I wanted to return to school is I missed the campus life and wanted to hang out with younger students and the feel of their energy. Unfortunately, I only got to spend one term on campus before COVID hit and all classes went remote. That one term was probably the best experience I\u2019ve had because I was back on campus and feeling the college atmosphere again after 30 years away.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to school, how do you spend your time?<\/em>
I spend my time kayaking, canoeing, camping, snowshoeing, and photographing wildlife when I have the time. I also serve as a volunteer paddle trip leader and naturalist for the Tualatin Riverkeepers. I work for the Public Employees Retirement System as a desktop publisher and web developer. Paddling in the Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands hoping for encounters with orcas is something I really enjoy doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your goal for your education?  A particular dream job?<\/em>
First, because of my advanced years (63), I know I\u2019ll be competing for jobs against a cadre of much younger applicants, so graduating near the top of my class is important to me. I am hoping the classes I take will make me competitive for outdoor recreation management opportunities once I graduate. My dream job is to move back to New England where I was born and raised and work as a park manager at Acadia National Park in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there something you wish Faculty and staff knew about you or your fellow students?<\/em>
At my age, pursuing a new degree and career change is a daunting and life-altering decision. Many people my age may be retired and able to easily attend college; other\u2019s like myself are tied to full-time jobs and also may be helping to support family members. I believe it would help to have a college advocate for older students (>50) attending the university.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TRAL – Outdoor Recreation Management Class of 2022 Hometown: McMinnville, Oregon How did you get interested in this particular field?\u00a0I attended an outdoor recreation conference hosted by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department at OSU three years ago. I am a big outdoor recreation enthusiast who enjoys sea kayaking, canoeing, snowshoeing, camping, fishing, scuba diving,… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213751],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions\/863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}