[Rockhounds] It's Aaron

[Ted]

Hello Aaron: 
Your Rockhounds request indicates to me that you are quite erudite for your
age. You have asked for a lot of information with just a few questions and I
applaud your desire for knowledge, especially in the Earth Sciences.

When I was about 7-8 years old my family went camping in the Appalachian
Mountains in Pennsylvania. While hiking along the Hawk Falls trail in
Hickory Run State Park, my family found a lot of excellent quartz crystals.
That started my family's interest and we progressed from quartz crystals to
geological field trips and fossil collecting. When I was about twelve years
old, my Father bought a saw-grinder setup along with some copper and silver
supplies. We learned to slab (slice) stones, perform, grind, polish and then
to prepare copper/silver settings for mounting the cabochons.

I did a few mail order courses with the Gemological Institute of America
http://www.gia.edu/ and learned enough so that I know when I need experts on
evaluating stones. Seriously, these are good courses and education for
professionals, but they are not geology courses. I've never attended, but
quite a few members of this list have taken real college courses and
received advanced degrees. One college offering courses (with a good web
interface) is http://www.mines.utah.edu/

Most everything else I have learned from this list or from other rockhounds
(backed up by research to deepen what I learned verbally).

I am not nor was I ever employed in an Earth Science field; Rocks and
geology have always a hobby for me. My career was in Computers and I am 56
now.

Good luck on your educational quest!

Ted Kowalski
Fredericksburg, VA USA


-----Original Message-----
From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
[mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Shawn Hendricks
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 5:25 PM
To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com
Subject: [Rockhounds] It's Aaron

Hi group,
It's me Aaron. My mom Shawn signed us up for this group. I am going to be a
geologist, gemologist, paleantologist, or something like that when I grow
up. I have a big question, when and how did you become interested in geology
and what do you do now that you are grown? I want to see what interesting
fields I could get into in the future and what I should prepare for. Also, I
do think that whatever I do, digging would have to be a major part of it. Do
you have aanything really important that you learned, or some advice that
has stuck with you through your years? Anyone wanting to answer please do. I
use these emails and such as part of my Language Arts for homeschool as well
as my geology study. My mom helps me type cause I'm so slow at it so it may
take a bit for me to get back. Thanks
Aaron Hendricks


 


      

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