Wow. I was a college student. My time at College of the Atlantic was probably the most challenging academically in all my years of study. Here I was a country girl, the very first in my family to go to a 4 year college and I fell into the most graduate school-like undergrad program imaginable. Everyone else had world class high school experiences – often having had many college credits already. I on the other hand attended the 96/146th worst high school in Idaho, and Idaho’s schools ranked 40th out of the 50 US states. In other words, I was at a serious disadvantage. The curriculum was fascinating. If only I had the foundational knowledge to build from. I had a lot of fun and met people who are the most important to me now, but I sure as hell didn’t come away with much that translated into a career. Human Ecology they call it and it comes with a high price. Once they stopped giving me financial aid when I turned 24 because I was technically independent and couldn’t prove that my parents weren’t assisting me, I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t make enough money and work study was hurting more than helping.

Defeated, I reluctantly went back to Idaho to try and get a practical degree with in-state tuition. At this point, I knew I liked healthy food and I liked science, and Dietician was a supposedly well-paying, respectable thing so “I think I should study Nutrition”. And I did. I got my Bachelor of Science in Nutrition. But by the end of it, Dietician wasn’t sitting right with me. Did I mention I have chronic social anxiety? As I got closer to it, working in a hospital with people looking to me for that polished level of professionalism really freaked me out. And telling people what to eat?! Omg, no one likes the messenger when it comes to that. No one. Besides, nutrition wasn’t as interesting as it was common sense and inconclusive studies. Further in debt and with nowhere to go within my narrow minded view of things people do for work, I was desperate for a true calling.