My first WSU class was fall of 2010, I’ve managed to squeeze my four-year degree into fourteen! Back then I was going after a Bachelor in Engineering Physics. I find that a good portion of people either like English and hate math or like math and hate English. Deep down I’m an engineer at heart, numbers just make sense. English on the other hand, forget it, the thought of English and writing papers scared me so badly that I never finished.

So why, after putting my degree on hold for 12 years did I go back? Going after a Bachelor of Communication of all degrees. A communication degree and hating English and writing is kind of an oxymoron. I left two jobs that involved engineering, the career path I thought I knew I was destined to take since I was 5 years old. I loved both jobs and hated to leave, I left because I felt my growth stopped. I enjoyed troubleshooting and solving problems, but there came a point where it wasn’t challenging because it was the same or similar things over and over. As a result, I felt that I was blocked from living towards my full potential. I hope to never reach my fullest potential but to always be pushing that line; making it there and stopping is the same as being held back, you’ve stopped either way. My new chosen occupation and degree continually push and challenge me, and as a result, my hunger for growth is being fed.

Understand that people develop individually. I find the best times in life are just after I am challenged and pushed and I look back and both see and feel my growth. Communication has been just that for me.

Communication is the most significant science for me. And in order for something to be significant it has to be life changing. Communication has been the most life changing science for me. Communication is more than passing information, but connecting with someone. There are people with emotions and identities behind those senders and receivers. I have seen the very power of effective communication as I have changed my approach to my daughters by getting down on their level, taking their hands, and pulling them forward.

I’ve been in several disasters, a 7.4 M earthquake, a 6.7 M earthquake, a 6.9 M earthquake, a volcano eruption in 2012 and again in 2014, and even several tornados. “To have that feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering” (Compassion definition: What is compassion) is one soul reaching out to another.

As life led me to work in disaster preparedness and response, I see how critical effective training and development is. By using communication theories to improve the way we train and develop staff we empower them. You don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to the highest level of your training.

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