Mid Coast Today

Erinne recently took the Wildlife Conservation Genetics course at Unity College with Professor Kelly Proffitt.

"After graduating high school in 2019, I was all set to go to college in Alabama, but a month before moving in, I decided to withdraw from the school and stay home instead. I found a full-time job at Benzon Research, an insect rearing facility, and I still work there today. I am living in south-central Pennsylvania, in a small town called Carlisle.

I chose Unity because of the flexibility of classes. Only taking one class at a time is perfect, not to mention all your work is on your own time. It’s easy to complete my schoolwork while working full time and maintaining a healthy social life.

My major is Wildlife Conservation, and I am currently working towards earning a Bachelor’s in that area. With my education, I hope to learn important conservation and management topics alongside learning about relevant and current environmental events/subjects. Unity does a fantastic job at incorporating real-world scenarios into the coursework. Also, I hope to gain connections in the environmental community through Unity so I can be ready to enter the workforce after graduation.

I liked Wildlife Conservation Genetics because it was a challenge, but in a good way. This class made me think about conservation issues and how to apply laboratory tests with field studies to utilize knowledge from genetics and wildlife management to protect wildlife populations. The final project of creating a brief about the genetic issues that an isolated population of caribou experience has been one of my favorites so far during my time at Unity. It was relevant, interesting, and challenged me intellectually. 

Original source can be found here