changing majors staying the course: meet recent graduate isaac breedloveisaac breedlove 21 graduated in may and credits the college of geosciences environmental programs and his support system with helping him achieve his goalsjun 29 2021isaac breedlove on his ring day in november 2020 (photos courtesy of isaac breedlove '21)the texas a&m geosciences costa rica trip in april 2018for many of his formative years isaac breedlove 21 had two higher education dreams: attend the university of texas and study meteorology as fate would have it he graduated from texas a&m university instead with an environmental geosciences degree in may of this year and today hes grateful that his childhood plans didnt work out staying flexible my whole family grew up as longhorns breedlove said my parents both went to the university of texas and met there and my sister graduated from ut austin in 2020 so i grew up wanting to go to ut but i also grew up wanting to study meteorology as a high school student he applied to texas a&m and the university of oklahoma because he knew he wanted to stay in the region and study meteorology his senior year he received a houston livestock and rodeo scholarship to be applied to a texas public university and that cemented his decision to attend texas a&m as he began earning his degree at texas a&m in 2017 he had his sights set on meteorology i chose meteorology because i dreamed of becoming a storm chaser for years breedlove said i ended up switching my major at the end of my sophomore year to environmental geosciences i was still able to minor in meteorology and graduate on time environmental geosciences is an interdisciplinary major that offers students a lot of flexibility and includes course content drawn from meteorology geology oceanography and physical geography already having a significant amount of knowledge of meteorology being able to use that knowledge in other classes and bringing that knowledge into oceanography or geology perspectives has been really beneficial and exciting he explained that has helped me connect so many physical sciences aspects of the geosciences memorable moments in aggieland breedloves four years at texas a&m were full of extraordinary experiences he said at the beginning of my junior year one of my professors reached out to me about conducting undergraduate research he recalled that was such a blessing and really exciting to be able to work with dr casellas-connors and be able to assist with his research i was able to become more involved in the research side of academics and gain knowledge that i would not have gained in a regular lecture it also helped me build networking connections and skills with faculty his undergraduate research work involved analyzing deer in the northeast us specifically in massachusetts and new york i studied and conducted survey analyses on how the populations of those states felt about the deer population rising he said we also analyzed the effects of urbanization and how thats affected the deers habitat as well as humans lifestyles dr casellas-connors reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to do research was very impactfulisaac breedlove at the antioch community church fall retreat in november 2019isaac breedlove at the men of god christian fraternity inc public induction ceremonylearning about environmental policy and planning in the course issues in environmental quality also left an impression on breedlove that course along with science and politics of global climate change were great policy classes that i most likely wouldnt have taken in meteorology and those allowed me to become even more knowledgeable about the social aspects of our science he said since graduating in may breedlove is now pursuing a career in environmental consulting or regulation advice for incoming students one piece of wisdom from his mother that breedlove wishes he would have taken to heart sooner is to ask for help my mom taught me this: its so important to know that its okay to ask for help its okay to not know he said the professors and teaching assistants are willing to help theyre not going to give you the answers but if you ask for help and are willing to think critically theyll be willing to help you participating in student organizations also made all the difference in his undergraduate career he reflected one thing that really impacted me was getting involved and i really encourage younger geoscientists to do that he said i was a part of the texas a&m student chapter of the american meteorological society (tamscams) wine to water a community emergency response team and outside of the major i also got involved with intramurals my church and big event – and those were all important supports and stress relief judy nunez college of geosciences director of recruitment was also a huge source of support and encouragement he said being in the wine to water first year seminar with judy nunez was one of the greatest experiences ive had at texas a&m he recalled learning about the global water crisis and then getting to go to costa rica that spring that was so impactful she also helped me decide what to switch my major to and that was such a blessing as well by leslie lee