New to the area, Southwest Virginia Community College graduate Barbara Wolfe, hundreds of miles from her friends and the life she was familiar with was not sure what direction her life would take when she moved to southwest Virginia from New Jersey. “My parents decided to retire and move back here, where my dad is originally from, and they wanted their kids to come too. The move was really tough on me,” said Wolfe. Compounding her stress was her inability to find a job.
Her older sister Theresa Aguiar was enrolled in college in Pennsylvania when the family made the move. When she moved with the family, Aguiar enrolled in the Environmental Science program at Southwest Virginia Community College. Her sister loved the program and this sparked an interest in Wolfe, “I have always been interested in the field. My sister would come home and talk about her classes and her homework and I was intrigued.”
So intrigued, that Wolfe accepted her sister’s invitation to sit in on one of her environmental science classes, “After that one class, I was hooked. I was impressed with the quality of instruction. That same day I went to check on financial aid and get the process started.”
Wolfe graduated in the spring and in the fall she followed in her sister’s footsteps by transferring to Radford University. She hopes to pursue a degree in Geology with a minor in Geography and a GIS concentration. Her sister has graduated from Radford and is now at Eastern Kentucky earning a Master’s Degree.” While Wolfe follows in her sister’s footsteps she tries not to let her have the entire spotlight. “We have always been competitive. We have made this a competition. My sister got A’s so I feel that I have to get better A’s. I have also been able to learn from her mistakes.”
“I have been very fortunate to find something that I am passionate about.” Wolfe credits Environmental Science Professor Craig Ashbrook’s approach to learning with nurturing that passion. “Dr. Ashbrook relates everything he taught in class to the real world and how it can be applied. It’s not just facts and figures.”
In Ashbrook’s classes, students can expect to get their hands dirty. “The only way you can teach Earth Science is to take students into the field,” Ashbrook said. He feels that going out in the field helps students to relate to his teaching. “Instead of talking about earthquakes in California, let’s talk about fault lines in our area. It’s more interesting for students to be able to stick their finger in the actual fault line than to just talk about it in class.”
Though nervous about living in a dorm, Wolfe feels that SwVCC has prepared her for making the transition to Radford. “SwVCC was great. Everyone should start at a community college. It is much less intimidating to come here first and then go to a four-year college. Professors at Radford know that students from SwVCC’s environmental program are well-prepared.”
At SwVCC, students can get an Associate of Arts & Sciences degree with a major in Science and a specialization in Environmental Science and transfer to a four-year college or university. Students also have the option of earning an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Environmental Management, if they wish to go directly into the workforce. For additional information contact SwVCC Environmental Science Professor Craig Ashbrook at 276.964.7572, or email at craig.ashbrook@sw.edu .