Between my Junior and senior year in high school, a Marine Corps recruiter asked me to take up the challenge of being a Marine: I did, and have not met a challenge that I would not back down from since.

It has been many decades since I first “Took up the Challenge” but I still live my life as a challenge, constantly growing and seeking to better myself.

I completed my undergraduate at Indiana State University majoring in communication with a concentration in journalism. I am currently a second year graduate student working on a M.A. in communication. The focus of my studies as a graduate student are on Kurdish Culture and Identity. For more details about my work and what lead me to choose the Kurds and identity as my communication focus, see the research section of this page.

Most of my work experiences after leaving the Marines have been in the Maintenance and mechanics field.

For many years, I felt like my life was going nowhere, and that I wanted to do more than just earn a paycheck. This was my motivation for ultimately choosing academia.
Starting new things, especially life altering career choices is a fearful thing. I am not one to let fear control me, instead I see facing fear as an opportunity to grow and reach new levels in life.

Even after I made the decision to begin my academic journey, I was still uncertain, but once I made the choice there was no turning back.

It was not long after beginning college that I realized I had made the right decision.

I did not enter into my decision with reckless abandon. My decision did not come without much thought, prayer and consideration of potential consequences.

I do like challenges, but there are limits. There has been times in my youth when I faced challenges that I should have left alone. I have learned after serious failure that some things are not for me.

Once I complete my undergraduate requirements, I am planning to attend graduate school. This is another of those choices that seemed to come out of nowhere. It was suggested to me by some former professors, and after some research and seeking advice from professors and students who are in a master’s program, I have decided it is the most logical next step at achieving my career goals of being a foreign and combat correspondent.

I decided to leave the above paragraph to show how my academic journey has evolved. When I began my academic journey, the plan was to earn a bachelor's degree and hopefully work in the Middle East. As you can see, that plane has changed somewhat. After consultation with my advisor, committee members, and mentor, I have decided that once I earn my master's degree I will continue my academic journey by entering in post graduate studies. The main question that remains is where those studies might take place.

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When I began my academic journey, I never thought I would be where I am today. I completed my master's program and earned my MA in Communication, but I did not stop there. After a semester off, I am now continuing my journey in Southern Illinois.

While talking with one of the professors in the anthropology department at Southern Illinois University, he asked me "Why anthropology?" I responded with two answers. First, my MA master's thesis was rooted in anthropological theory and I wanted to continue on that trajectory, but my second reason explains it much better. Although I could continue in communication using anthropological approaches to research, anthropology would allow me to explore so many different research options that is not restricted to communication.

I am happy I chose the anthropology route. I still focus my research on the Kurds, however, now my focus is on food, the senses and memory. I find these three concepts to be very important in understanding culture and also how the Kurds make sense of their own culture, identity, and relationship to their homeland and each other through food, senses and memory.

I am uncertain where the next chapter of my journey will take me once I complete my PhD, but I am certain it will be as exciting and fulfilling as the journey has been thus far.