Opportunites

photo by: Herbert Kratky

Cape Ground Squirrel

Opportunities can come out of nowhere. I learnt this on my second day of school. I was just walking around campus after my last class when I noticed a squirrel perched on a piece of wood all tucked in and still, its tail curled above its head. I was standing right next to it and it would not move. I started to wonder: Why is it doing that? What is the purpose of having his tail like that? Why isn't it moving?

So, I snapped a picture with my phone.

photo by: Kirsten Desorcy

Red Squirrel

Before starting school I had done some research on the different professors in my department to see which ones I want to take classes with, what they research, etc. I wanted to get a jump start on getting to know my professors and figure out which ones I want to work on. My goal is to get into the Honours program, which means I would need to do some field work to defend an Honours thesis - which I would need an advisor for. Anyways, I remembered that a professor on my list studies squirrels and polar bears and is specialized in animal behaviour. So, I sent her a message asking about this squirrel's behaviour.

Her name is Dr. Jane Waterman and she works with Cape Ground Squirrels (see photo above) in Africa. She responded to my message within the hour and asked to meet with me. I was curious but also very excited. I met with her on the next day I had school. We hit it off and she offered me some volunteer work with her research. Of course I agreed! Any kind of experience I can get gives me a better chance at succeeding in my goals. 

She needed help organizing and correcting her squirrel data and I jumped at the chance. She said it's a boring and long job but I knew I'd enjoy that type of work. 😜 I absolutely love organizing things and being able to study numbers and facts to find connections. Also, in mid-October her PhD student would be coming back from Africa and would need a lot of help to organize all her data and go through video footage. It's all very exciting - it's not whales and dolphins but it's an animal and it's research! 

I met her again the week after to copy her files on a USB so I can start working on it. To be completely honest I am loving this. 😍😆 I have worked on it for 7 hours already and finished 100/912 squirrels in the Trap Data. 

It just goes to show that if you put yourself out there and focus on your goals then opportunities can arise from anything. I'm looking forward to working with Dr. Waterman, she has a lot of experience and offers great opportunities for a new undergraduate student like myself.

Working on some data.