{"id":46725,"date":"2022-08-03T10:01:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T15:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=46725"},"modified":"2022-08-11T16:17:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T21:17:53","slug":"change-in-plans-led-tarleton-commencement-speaker-to-geoscience-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/change-in-plans-led-tarleton-commencement-speaker-to-geoscience-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Change in Plans Led Tarleton Commencement Speaker to Geoscience Degree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"7245\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Alexandra Tullos came to Tarleton with a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did not include falling in love with rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She intended to graduate with a degree in ag education and follow her thought-out career course accordingly. Then she got here and realized another area of study was calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only will she graduate Saturday with her BS in geoscience with a concentration in environmental science, she will deliver the keynote address at commencement exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always thought rocks were dumb, but I knew I wanted to be in environmental management and I wanted a science-based degree,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce I started taking rock classes, it turned into something incredibly interesting. It\u2019s fascinating to see how much we can tell about our past, what our world looked like, its composition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandra grew up in tiny Hallettsville (pop. 2,700) and was not ready to commit to a big-college town when she graduated high school. \u201cI came to Tarleton a lot for FFA contests,\u201d she said. She changed majors and decided to stay because of the family atmosphere and her professors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are all experts in their field,\u201d she said. \u201cThey worked for oil companies or NASA, and they all have pretty impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. I felt like I was getting the highest quality education I could as a geoscience major.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That education will continue past her bachelor\u2019s degree. She has been accepted into the master\u2019s program in environmental policy and management at the University of Denver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really want to get into policy consulting or environmental management. There are lots of terms for it, but basically I want to be the person who knows the rules, knows the laws, and helps people or companies keep contaminants out of the air and water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with altered goals, Tarleton proved to be a natural fit. Alexandra instantly became active on campus, serving as student body vice president, president of Sigma Phi Lambda sorority, a residential leader and a member of the Honors College. She even headed up Homecoming activities as a senior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting to run Homecoming was exhausting but such a rewarding experience,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing able to bring together traditions that have always been there and make new ones \u2014 I absolutely loved everything, from bonfire to midnight breakfast to yell. All of it. I submerged myself in all of that when I got here, and I\u2019m going to miss it so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her love of her university home and her major is the basis of her commencement speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be about my journey of discovering rocks and how incredibly unique each rock is and how they relate to us as people. We are each molded and shaped into who we are, in some ways by things we can\u2019t control, but in others, unlike rocks, we have the choice to go forward from graduation and do what\u2019s best for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if it means changing the plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexandra Tullos came to Tarleton with a plan. It did not include falling in love with rocks. She intended to graduate with a degree in ag education and follow her thought-out career course accordingly. Then she got here and realized another area of study was calling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,423],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-46725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-academics-research","tag-college-of-science-mathematics"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2022\/08\/7244-300x200.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["College of Science & Mathematics<\/a>"],"unlinked":["College of Science & Mathematics<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 3, 2022","modified":"Updated on August 11, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 3, 2022 10:01 am","modified":"Updated on August 11, 2022 4:17 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Smiling woman with long blonde hair and a black blazer.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}