Katie Ceynar is a research assistant, soon to be graduate, and a woman on a mission to save the world (or something like that). She has lofty goals and an even loftier plan.
So other than being a student, what do you do? I work as an undergraduate research assistant at Lewisville Aquatic Ecosystem Research Facility, where I am on the biocontrol team, working with an invasive aquatic plant species. And in my free time I like to read, spend time with my friends, bike, hike, paint, swim, watch and Star Wars.
How does it feel to be a senior? It feels scary and daunting but exciting all the same. I can’t wait to move on to the next part of my life.
After graduation plans? I plan on joining the peace corps for a two-year commitment (maybe more), followed by getting my masters and then my PhD. But we’ll see where life takes me.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I see myself in grad school working towards my degree, loving the work I’m doing.
What has UNT meant to you? UNT has and will always be an important part of my education, and it has given me a community of wonderful like-minded individuals, and provided me a place in which I have learned and grown immensely.
Your best college experience so far? My best college experience so far I’d say was my last day of my Biodiversity and Conservation of Animals class this semester with Dr. Baxter-Slye, when she showed us bits and pieces of the documentary, Racing Extinction, during which she started crying, and told us that she hoped that one day we will all move on to do wonderful things and make a change in the world.
What’s your biggest inspiration? My biggest inspirations are conservation and the uneducated. Conservation has a hold on my heart and always has, and it is my goal to spread what I learn from my education with those who don’t know the real effects of their actions in their day to day lives. There are a lot of uneducated people on our planet and I believe it is the role of the educated to teach the uneducated that which they do not understand. In 2011 the world adult illiteracy rate was 84.1%. The problem is that these people are not unintelligent, but are simply uneducated because no one taught them how to read, write, or live sustainably in balance with nature.