Supporting Our Students

COFS proudly awarded the Clarence H. Campbell Endowed Lauren Donaldson Scholarship for the first time this year. Five students received full resident-tuition scholarships for the entire academic year. One of those students, Heather Gibbs, shares her story.

Heather Gibbs and son

Seven years ago, I moved to Washington state and saw the ocean for the first time. My immediate and deep fascination with the ocean made me realize that my most enjoyable career would be working with some aspect of the ocean. I joined the Seattle Aquarium as a volunteer and immediately started learning as much as I could about the different species on display.

My enthusiasm and dedication were rewarded when I was asked to join the aquarium as an employee. I was then able to pass on my excitement and knowledge by teaching and training others. I loved working for the aquarium and found pleasure and fulfillment working both with the animals and the people. While I was extremely happy at the aquarium, I felt I was just skimming the knowledge that was available about the marine world. 

During a career fair at the aquarium I met the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences undergraduate adviser, who illustrated how this major could be the perfect combination of my interests and talents.  Majoring in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences allowed me to learn the biological systems of the varied and interesting aquatic organisms, but more importantly, helped me discover that my true passion lies in the conservation and management of those organisms. 

While looking into different graduate programs throughout the country last fall, I kept coming back to the School of Marine Affairs as one of the top schools in aquatics and management. I was fortunate enough to be admitted and am now fully immersed in my first quarter as an SMA grad.

The only aspect of the SMA program that concerned me during the application process was the financial cost. I realized early on that I may need to take out extensive loans to support myself while in graduate school but still felt that SMA was worth the cost. Being a single mother I feel a huge responsibility to finding the right career path which will help me support my son and also show him how crucial it is to get an education so that you can pursue the profession that brings you joy in life.