I am interested in a career in conservation biology and ecology of aquatic biomes, so I am applying for a Master of Science in Biology. Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was fortunate to have a childhood within a tropical oasis, where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. Where the trade winds developing in the Saharan dessert go passed the Atlantic Ocean and through the mountain range crossing the island horizontally, rain shadowing the southwestern portion of the islands dry forest. This climatic interplay influenced my youth with a vision of the world that I would soon learn was a unique and vital ecosystem, and one that was being threatened and destroyed at a pace that surpassed the knowledge being gained from it. As I left the island and moved from the Rocky Mountains into the …show more content…
With a new school filled with diverse faculty and students, came the opportunity to grow as a person and be proud of my Caribbean heritage. The surrounding ecosystem lead me to decide that I wanted to be a part of a career that allowed my curiosity of the natural world to be a focal point of my work life. In my sophomore year of college at the University of Puerto Rico, I was taught that pursuing a biology degree required much more than curiosity and an interest on the field. A commitment to perform and understand under a stressful environment was as vital to be successful in this field as it is throughout life. There were three classes that got the most out of me as it was the first time in my life that I failed to understand and apply the information given to be successful in class. This experience not only forced me to consider alternate ways of studying, but it made it clear that if I was to succeed in my undergraduate studies I should leave the comforts of the island and start