Student Bio
- Third year undergraduate student at UTM
- Specialist in Anthropology (Science) with a focus in Archaeology
"I’m focused in archaeology as a subfield, so I’m looking into cultural resource management careers after university."
Path to anthropology
I actually knew I wanted to go into anthropology since I was 12! I’ve always been interested in history, so archaeology seemed like the right path.
I’m from a small town, so anything to do with other cultures or humans outside of my own little circle always interested me, and that was a huge part of why I chose to study anthropology.
Discovering anthropology science
I started out being more interested in sociocultural anthropology as a subfield and then I took ANT101 (Introduction to Biological Anthropology and Archaeology), and that changed my mind entirely. I definitely wanted to go into archaeology because it brought that element of both past and present cultures, evolution in the human past, and the whole science of that was incredibly interesting.
Archaeology and Cultural Resource Management
I’m more focused in archaeology as a subfield, so I’m looking more into cultural resource management careers after university. Cultural resource management can span anywhere from working in museums as curation staff to working for construction companies to do commercial archaeology, which is where they scan a site to make sure there's nothing important buried there before they build on it.
Are you thinking about graduate school?
I’m definitely considering grad school because I want to be able to do my own research and have that experience. If I don't end up going into academia, I can get the skills and experience to make a career in cultural resource management.
What was your favourite course so far?
ANT210, which was taught by Steven Dorland. He did an incredible job with lots of student interaction. It's called Fantasies, Hoaxes and Misrepresentations of the Ancient World. You get to talk about ancient aliens, and conspiracy theories and why people believe them, and it was just a really fun course. There were creative projects integrated into it. It was just a good time.
"It helped me feel a lot more connected in a time when you couldn't really see anyone, and I just got more involved in the community as a whole."
Making connections
In first year I was really shy. I found it very difficult to get involved, but talking to profs during office hours and just asking around about what opportunities there are is such a huge help in finding ways to get involved.
That's how I found out about a field school that I applied to in first year - that got cancelled because of COVID - but now I’m applying to UTM's field school, because we have our own field school for archaeology and that's pretty cool.
This past year I had also applied to the Anthropology Society to try and get more involved in my department, and it was one of the best decisions I made this year. It helped me feel a lot more connected in a time when you couldn't really see anyone, and I just got more involved in the community as a whole.
Advice for students
"Talking to profs during office hours and just asking around about what opportunities there are is such a huge help in finding ways to get involved."
Icons by the Noun Project.