Matthew Kirwin
Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey

I am a geologist and ecologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS).  I work out of Charlottesville, Virginia, but my research takes me to swamps and marshes around the world. I owe much of my interest and background in this field to the 4H Forestry Program, both as a participant in 1997 and as an assistant coach and workshop instructor for several teams from Virginia. In my job today, I do primary, scientific research devoted to understanding how climate change affects wetlands. Although this might not immediately sound like a career built on lessons learned through the 4H Forestry program, it most certainly is. I suppose that for several years I didn't really know how to make a career out of a love of the outdoors; I'm sure many other teens have been in that situation. This is where the 4H forestry program first helped- it introduced me to career paths including forestry and land management that relied on enthusiasm and knowledge of the natural world.

As a freshman in college (William and Mary), I began the school year a little overwhelmed. One of the first pleasant surprises was taking a field trip in a Geology class that quickly developed into a tree ID lesson. While I felt inferior in many of my other non-science classes, this was different. From the 4H forestry program, I already knew how to identify most every tree in the woods, and so here I was in the first month of school, teaching the professor a little bit. Things continued to get better. Even towards the end of college and into graduate school (Duke University), skills learned in high school through the forestry program kept popping up, especially reading topographic maps and orienteering with a compass. In fact, the first paper I ever published involved tree ring analysis, a technique I was first introduced to as a forestry program participant. That I had already learned these skills years earlier gave me incredible confidence. I think what proved really successful was the fact that through 4H, real forestry professionals were teaching us these skills in an environment where individual instruction and in depth attention were possible. This style really is much different than anything I experienced in high school or college courses.

I truly feel blessed to have participated in the 4H forestry program. It is hard to imagine what career path I would have taken if I hadn't been exposed to it during high school.