Emilee Gooch - NMU Blog

I moved to Marquette when I was in middle school and immediately fell in love with it here. I especially fell in love with the gorgeous environment and natural beauty of the area, which is what led to me eventually choosing the majors I am pursuing now. Deciding to stay in Marquette and attend NMU was an easy choice once I decided on my majors, as I figured what better place to study the natural world?

Coming into undergrad, I had always had a passion for the environment and conservation. After doing research into the majors offered at NMU, I landed on Environmental Science; my sophomore year I would add Fisheries & Wildlife Management as my second major. I felt like both of these programs offered exciting chances to gain hands-on experience, while also getting to connect with professors in the classroom. With the smaller class sizes at NMU, I have felt like I have really gotten to know my professors and built a connection while also gaining invaluable experience.

For both of my majors I have taken the required capstone research courses, in which you carry out an entire research project of your own. These classes have been hugely beneficial in gaining experience in the world of research, better preparing me for future pursuits such as graduate school.
 

On-campus, I was a member of the Student Leader Fellowship Program (graduated from the program April 2024). This is a phenomenal program which provides the chance to be involved in a wide variety of things, the most exciting for me being the community-service internship. For my internship, I worked at the U.P. Children's Museum as an environmental educator. This was a great opportunity to be involved in the local community, while also gaining experience in my field of study. Another great experience was having the opportunity to study abroad my sophomore year. I spent a semester in Athens, Greece, where I was able to learn more than I ever imagined I would about new cultures and new perspectives. Attending school there was especially interesting, as I got to learn about how a different country and culture views the environment, climate change, environmental policy, and much else.


 

For me, being a Wildcat means taking the opportunities I can to make the most of my time at NMU.