“What we call the beginning is often the end.  And to make an end is to make a beginning.  The end is often where we start from.” – T.S. Eliot

As I finally catch my breath after a week full of graduation, 23rd birthday, and Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society Rolex Awards excitement, I’m reflecting upon the close of the greatest chapter of my life thus far and the start of an incredible journey as the 2017 OWUSS North American Rolex Scholar.

Armed with a degree in biological engineering concentrating on water resources from the University of Florida and a love for exploring beneath the surface instilled at an early age, I will quite literally dive into the next year of opportunity.  An avid scuba diver for seven years, I have spent the better part of my life going wherever the water takes me.  I grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia, a small town in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains that is hours from the nearest ocean but home to the New River, the water body that makes up some of my first memories.  My life was forever changed in 2010 when I became scuba certified in St. John, USVI.  Since then I have served as president of the Scuba Club at Virginia Tech, worked as a dive professional in the Florida Keys, completed a research internship at Divers Alert Network, and spent hundreds of hours cave diving.

So it is with great honor that I take on the role of the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society’s 2017 North American Rolex Scholar.  Thank you to OWUSS and Rolex for enabling this opportunity, and also to my family and all those who have supported my passion for water and diving thus far.  Let the adventure begin!