Kelly Swanson

I was teaching science in middle school for several years, and during that time I designed programs for my students where we would call in scientists from around the country. I just felt so inspired by the actual scientists that we were meeting that I decided to go on and get my master's degree because I really wanted to be in the field doing the scientific work. Even though I really enjoy teaching, I always really appreciated teachers who had hands-on experience, who had worked in their field and then come back and taught. That's kind of my goal - to get out in the field, do my own scientific work, and then hopefully retire back into teaching again. I put my education on hold to have kids and stay home and be a mom, and going back to get a master's degree when lots of people my age already have their career figured out meant I had to do that in a bit of reverse order. Now I work in the environmental department at Westwood Professional Services, where I'm often the first part of any project, researching land use and investigating how the land has been used over time to make sure it's safe for development. I usually work on wind and solar projects, developing solar and wind energy in the areas we're developing.