(July 31, 2018)—History has been a passion of mine since I was in elementary school. I enjoy reading about the past and considering how some of the modern things we have are similar to things people had long ago. The thing about history is that you spend most of your time in the library reading and researching topics, which is fine, but I wanted a more interactive way of learning about the past. When I was around the age of ten, my father showed me the film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and that is when I found out about archaeology.
From there on I started to research this field and what it really entails. Studying archaeology meant I could actively learn about the past and new theories about it and how it relates to my life now. Archaeology incorporates disciplines such as history and geology. In my first year of college, I took a field methods class that changed my view of archaeology, and I knew this was the career for me. I continued with this course through the summer, volunteering for the Arizona Museum of Natural History working on pottery, and my professor told me about this field school.
Being a part of this field school has been such an experience that I never could have felt anywhere else. Learning how to excavate different types of units expanded my knowledge of archaeology and I have gained more skills then I could have imagined. We first started trenching and digging to look for a wall found by students the previous year, and once we found it, we started an excavation unit inside an adobe room. Digging in the excavation unit gave me the experience that I was looking for, actively learning and looking for the past and pieces that were missing from the timeline. I have not only learned what archaeology is, but I have also gained a new family made up of the students and staff members who are a part of this field school and have shaped me in a way that I could not describe.