Every human being has a unique story. Mine involves an unlikely and unorthodox path to graduate school. I was not fond of school as a boy and did not perform particularly well either. Neither of my parents attended college and I had never considered it a possibility as I grew up. As such, I started adult life working with my hands. Jumping years ahead, some unexpected turns brought me to my local community college where I quickly fell in love with academia. I had always been fond of learning, but there I enjoyed school for the first time. I set my sights on graduate school in my first year, and here I am. I am motivated to advance human knowledge equally through scientific investigation and teaching. I consider it my calling to encourage and inspire others and hopefully inculcate the same wonder and hunger for knowledge that I first felt at community college all those years ago.