Hello, my name is Chad Greville and I’m a rising Junior with majors in Environmental Studies and Political Science. I transferred to Pitt at the beginning of last fall and have really enjoyed my time here so far! Now that I’m all settled, I’m looking forward to exploring some extra-curriculars. I’m originally from Kane, which is in McKean County, but have lived in Melville, Montana for the past few summers to work. At work, I was a wrangler and wilderness guide, and when I have free time at home, it’s more of the same outdoor shenanigans. I love to hunt, fish, snowboard, camp, garden, and ride my horse, Indy, over the National Forest. Writing is also a new hobby of mine – I’m always looking for something interesting to write about.

During the Wyoming Spring Creek program, I’ll have the opportunity to study geology, paleontology, and ecology in Laramie. Ecology has been fundamental to every hunt and every fishing trip I’ve ever taken, but I haven’t approached wildlife from the perspective of a college student yet. I’m excited to see how that practical experience interplays with the academic approach. Maybe I’ll pick up some new tricks for catching fish! I have classroom experience in geology and paleontology, but I wouldn’t call them as familiar. Getting out into the world and putting names to fossils will flesh out my education, and that’s a big reason why I chose the Field Study. Another will be the opportunity to observe how natural and human systems interact with each other in an area like the West, where so much land is publicly managed, especially when it comes to agriculture. For example, many ranchers rely on public land permits to graze their stock. But, there is also an interest in keeping the land publicly accessible and in preserving its vegetation or its wolves or its wild horses. I’d like to work at the Bureau of Land Management, working towards a balance where such complicated disputes are resolved and natural and human systems coexist and we achieve public good with public lands.

The Field Study will satisfy requirements in my Environmental Studies major, but has been recommended as so much more than that. My advisor pushed for it; a local artist at a workshop I attended spoke about it; a friend’s sister is a geologist in Oregon now, and she loved it, too. I can’t wait to spend another summer out West, this time in Laramie for something new and exciting and more formally educational but an adventure, nonetheless. By the end of the program, I hope I’ll be close with my classmates and a more competent conservationist than I was to begin with.