A YPN Introduction!

[GinaGirgente]

Hi all! I'm new to YPN and just wanted to introduce myself. 

I graduated from Virginia Tech (go Hokies!) last year with a BA in Geography and minors in GIS and meteorology. I'm in my first year as a master's student studying climatology, but am transferring schools this fall so that I can get an MS in GIS instead! I love to learn, as well as the structure of academia, and have toyed with the idea of being a forever student instead of getting a stereotypical job. Because of my love for academia, I'm currently drawn towards becoming an Instructor/Professor, or any job that has dynamic challenges in physical/environmental geography and GIS.  I've recently started teaching myself website development and GIS web tool development, and am thinking about that as a career option as well. As I explore the GIS field further via my master's, I'd love guidance on how to get the most out of my degree and how to find what type of career is right for me.

Additionally, if you're an undergraduate student new to GIS, I would love to help you find your community within academia! I have created and headed multiple social and academic geography organizations, am very experienced in undergraduate research, and have also interned for Esri before, so I can give resources about how to find a grad school that's right for you, how to be involved in your local GIS/geography community, and how to be more a more competitive applicant 🙂

If you'd like to connect, please reach out to me on LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-girgente/ 

[RosemaryBoone]

Hi @GinaGirgente - thank you for introducing yourself! You raise a really great point that there are resources for students who are finding their way through their GIS journey and finding communities. That's so interesting that your studies are GIS in meteorology! What were some projects you worked on??

[GinaGirgente]

Hi Rosemary, thank you for replying! I've been a major and/or sole contributor of three research projects, and was a lab technician for two. My projects revolved around paleoclimatology and biogeography, spatial AI biases, and land use/land cover change. My favorite project was the one relating to paleoclimatology and biogeography because I got to partner with a geoscience professor and learn so much about things I never thought to research!

[MafaldaBastosMoura]

Hello Gina, 
As I said in our Linkedin Message, i love tour backgroung and it´s quite similar to mine. What project did you make?

[MafaldaBastosMoura]

Hello!
I am Mafalda Moura, expecting to be a good Esri YPN, because i love nature and tecnlogy, such as geography. 
I am a bachelor student of Geography in Porto University, in Portugal. 
I am still trying to find my masters, I love many things, politics, science, education and investigation, it´s not easy doing that only in one masters. 
I don´t have experience in the workforce, however I have a bit of practical knowledge and competences, from more then thirty certificates, incluing workshops, investigations/ conferences, erasmus programs and ect. In terms of curriculam consider an experienced student, hower with a lack of practice, expect from academic research or workfield. I how i get some mentor, i really need some mentorship, if you want Gina you could be mine?. I would love to do an intern or be present in a Esri Event.