Join us on this episode of The Art of Subduction as we explore the various opportunities youth outreach programs like GeoFORCE offer to aspiring geologists! Diya and Mitchel share their journeys of their involvement in geology and youth outreach programs, and how these experiences sparked their passion for what they do!

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Got a lava questions (or want to be featured)? Email me at dgaur@utexas.edu

Transcript:

Introduction and Personal Interests in Geosciences

[00:00:00] Mitchel Lambert: Was there a specific topic or, um, thing that, like, you latched onto and was like, oh, this, I want to learn more about this, or this is what I want to do, geosciences, or this changed my mind? Like, was there a specific, like, topic or, you know, lecture or field stop that kind of grabbed you? 

[00:00:17] Diya Gaur: Yeah, so, okay, it kind of stems from the podcast name as well, but subduction for sure.

Like, in the 11th grade academy, we kind of, like, learned about plate tectonics, because one of the main things that we were learning was And that is how these volcanoes, like mountain range, form. And for me it's just, I thought that was like, super interesting and cool, and like, one, I just don't know why, but I just think volcanoes are super cool, like, I could just keep on learning about them and like, just never get tired of it, it's just kind of been like that for me.

And just also, I kind of want to pursue geobiology, and so it's like learning how geology interacts with people like us, and even just animals overall, like that's such an important, such an important aspect that we need to consider, and so it's kind of just my love for learning that kind of keeps on fueling why I wanted to go into geoforce and that type of stuff.

But yeah, like, the art of subduction. 

[00:01:12] Mitchel Lambert: Perfect. I love it.

Meet the Hosts: Diya and Mitchell

[00:01:41] Diya Gaur: Okay, so, just a bit about me. If you don't already know me, what you do. But my name is Diya, I go to Lamar High School in Houston, Texas, and I'm in 12th grade. I recently just went on GeoForce 12th grade summer academy, which was just last month, and I studied ice sheets in Western Antarctica and Mars.

Can you tell me a bit about yourself, what you do in GeoForce? 

[00:02:03] Mitchel Lambert: Of course, yeah, so, um, I'm Mitchell Lambert, I am a GeoForce coordinator, um, I have just finished my second summer with GeoForce, I had you both on two academies, one this summer, one last summer, um, it was great, I've done a total of eight academies, um, one, at least one with all of our different grade levels, um, so, it's been great, it's been great.

I don't know anything about geology. I do all of the logistic stuff and everything like that. As you know, um, like, making sure we get from A to B, I am not the person who tells y'all what the rocks are, what we're looking at, anything along those lines. 

Mitchell's Journey to GeoForce

[00:02:38] Diya Gaur: So, you didn't, like, initially come from a background in geology, what did you do before becoming a GeoForce coordinator?

[00:02:45] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, so my, you know, degree was in sports administration, um, and I did some stuff with Rec Soccer Leagues, I was a soccer coach, gymnastics coach for a long time. Um, I have been working in summer programs, though, since I was a junior in college. And so, for the last 12 summers, I have been working in some summer program here and there.

Um, I was at Project Transformation for 10 years across two different chapters, um, before coming over to, to be at GeoForce. And I worked with, like, little kids from, like, 2 to 5, elementary, youth. High school, I was the person who sat over the entire site, and then I came on in like a full time staff role and was the person who hired young adults to work with kids and teach them how to live together and how to work with kids and how to, you know, settle disputes and confrontation as well as implement good programming for the students.

You know, the logistics of how in the world do we get everything set up for a summer to happen? What does that look like throughout the year? Um, and so I've been doing that for 12 years now, um, which is kind of how I got in touch with GeoForce, like, in a way of like, when looking for the next thing, and it was like, Oh, this is a camp where I don't have to know all of the things?

Great, sign me up. I'm gonna go and travel and do all of that, um, and do the logistics part that I know how to do. Um, as well as, um, they were looking for, for someone who does camp, and I do camp a lot, and so it was kind of a perfect fit for me to come into GeoForce knowing that I didn't have to know anything about rocks.

[00:04:15] Diya Gaur: Yeah, well, that sounds amazing, but can you tell us a bit more about how you initially got into GeoForce, like, how you became the Outreach Coordinator and how you're now coordinating the 12th Grade Academy? 

[00:04:27] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, so I literally was looking for a new job. It had been ten years, it was a nice round number, um, to end with my last program, and I was just looking on the UT website, and I found a posting for a summer camp position, um, that was up at Pickle Research Campus, so I didn't have to go to main campus all day, because traffic around University of Texas is terrible, and I didn't want to do that.

I touched base with them after I had completed the application. I talked with John Hash, who was the previous Senior Program Coordinator. And, you know, just asked him lots of questions of what does the academy look like? Okay, we're out traveling with the students. We're taking them to all these cool places that I myself wanted to go to.

Like, part of the reason I applied was that Zion, National Park, Bryce Canyon, and Crater Lake were all on my bucket list of places I wanted to go. And GeoForce was gonna pay me to take students there. I was in. I was like, great, I'm gonna apply. I'm gonna see what, what this program is like. And so I was just fortunate enough to find it on UT's like job board website.

Um, and then whenever I did that, fortunate enough to, to interview well and to get the job. Um, as I said, they were looking for someone who had a camp background. Um, that was one of the specific things they were looking for. They were also looking for someone who needed, like, communications and, um, social media background, and I literally told them, don't hire me if it's for that position, I won't do well.

Um, so fortunately, like, I I had that camp atmosphere. And then I got to go on a number of different academies last year, including two of the 11th grade academies, where we take folks to Oregon, and we do volcanoes, um, and tsunamis, and the Oregon coast, and get to see all those different things. And then it was with both the Austin group and the Houston group, and so it made sense for me to keep going with those students for that 12th grade program.

And I already knew that I already knew two thirds of the kids, 12th grade, we bring all of the students together from all three different geographies, so I already knew two thirds of the kids that were going to be on that program, so it made sense for me to be the lead coordinator for the 12th grade academy, um, when we brought together Southwest kids, Austin kids, Houston kids, um, all together, I only had to learn like 35 40 names.

Whereas, you know, Jennifer, who was not on any 11th grades, had to learn all 117 names from all the different kids. Um, so it made sense, like, and I had never seen the 12th grade before, so. I leaned on Jennifer a lot who had done 12th grade last year, um, cause she had seen it and knew what it looked like.

And so that was just like, the happenstance of being on, the only person that was on to 11th grades last year, um, you know, one of which was yours, and then being able to go into that 12th grade, um, and help coordinate and do all the logistics for all the different moving pieces in order to get it up and going.

[00:07:13] Diya Gaur: Right, that is such an interesting journey, actually, like, the part where you had to only learn 30 to 40 names, like, that's actually, like, amazing, like, me, myself, me personally, I'm also really bad at doing names, so, that's, like, something I can relate to for sure. 

What is GeoForce Texas?

[00:07:28] Diya Gaur: So, for our Gen Z listeners, who might be a bit unfamiliar with GeoForce, Could you just explain what GeoForce Texas is and what its primary mission is or functions as?

[00:07:39] Mitchel Lambert: So we want to get more kids engaged in geosciences. And that's really the the prime directive of GeoForce is how do we get more kids engaged in geosciences? Literally less than half of a percent of students who enroll in college enroll in geoscience majors, and so we want to raise that number. We actively recruit current 8th graders to come see what our program looks like at like info sessions at schools or we'll go into classrooms and tell them hey this is what our program is and it is 4 week long trips throughout your high school career like the summer before your 9th grade we take students to Areas around Texas and Central Texas, like Enchanted Rock, Ink's Lake, Longhorn Cavern.

We go down to the coast, um, talk about, you know, what does geoscience look like in a Texas context? Because all of our kids are from the Texas area. Most of our kids. We actively recruit in Texas. Somehow, there were kids from like, Louisiana or Arizona that find us, and if they can get here, we'll take them.

But yeah, so 9th grade is all in Texas, in your home state, generally. 

GeoForce Academies: A Breakdown

[00:08:42] Mitchel Lambert: 10th grade we take our students to the American Southwest. We fly out to Las Vegas and we go to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, we go see the Grand Canyon, we see Beringer Meteor Crater, we go to Lowell Observatory, and it's lots of like, um, the different layers that we can see out there.

Again, not the science y person part of it, but y'all get to see the Grand Staircase is what it's called. Um, going through the American Southwest, all of the different layers, we start at the top and kind of go down and work our way through. And there's also some planetary geology that takes place there when we talk about Beringer Meteor Crater and Lowell Observatory.

Um, talking about, like, it's not just context here on Earth, but what does it look like? Um, what are other areas of geoscience you can study as well? The 11th grade trip, we take students to Oregon, we fly out to Portland, and we basically make a loop around Oregon. We hit up Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, Newberry Caldera, and do the Obsidian Flow hike.

We go to Crater Lake, um, we go and see the Oregon coast, because it is very different than the Texas coast and what we have here. All kinds of things to see, like, talk about volcanology, plate tectonics, we talk about tsunamis and volcanoes and natural disasters, because there are different natural disasters up there than the hurricanes that we have in Texas.

Um, and then the 12th grade. We combine all of the students from all different geographies, from the Southwest Geography, from the Houston Geography, and from the Austin Geography, and we take them to UT's campus and we do like a week long research project with everybody. This last year we had nine different researchers, um, who each led their students, um, And, you know, all kinds of different things.

As you said, you did the ice sheets research project. We had folks who were focusing on carbon capture. We had folks who went down to the coast and flew drones and did LIDAR to see, you know, how the coast is changing over the different years. We had folks who studied earthquakes and did, you know, simulations in the lab.

All kinds of different projects. So we had nine different projects this year. That the kids got to hear about and then kind of learn about. Select, you know, what are the three I'm most interested in, and we stuck them in one of those three, um, you know, so, a lot of folks got their number one, some folks got their two, some folks got their three, but we got to, to give the students the choice, um, after hearing about all of the different projects, and then go into that for, for a week, and they work it out.

You know, with those research mentors, they work with RGLs and counselors, which are like the people that GeoForce hires. Um, you know, the college age folks and the folks who are working on their master's or PhD, um, to help with some of the research learning. Um, to gather all of the data, analyze the data, and then all of the students create posters that they present at the end of the week in like groups of three or four.

They present posters at the symposium, um, which is like a big, like, event to celebrate the work that they had done, as well as for them to communicate to folks, you know, what they worked on throughout the week. We invited parents to come see, um, so they got to see, you know, what, what their students had been doing as, like, the capstone of their four years in GeoForce.

Um, so it was super great. We had tons of folks that came, um, to see the symposium. All of the students, like, y'all put together some incredible posters that I myself wouldn't, have never done anything along those lines. I was, like, amazed at the detail and the data and the analysis and, like, the conclusions that y'all drew from it from just, like, a week of work.

[00:12:07] Diya Gaur: Yeah, for sure. And I think it's like also what's super important about GeoForce as well. So one of the initial reasons why I chose to start my podcast is because I wasn't finding many opportunities outside of GeoForce to get involved in geology. So for me, I think one big thing that GeoForce is doing is making the study, which is really so important.

It's the world around us. Accessible to all these different high school students. And like, even today we can see the impact that it's had since 2005. There's so many kids who go through the GeoForce program and they end up doing the geosciences and I'm one of them. So I really love to see what you guys are doing.

And I also hope to come back. Next year or the year after that as a counselor, so just truly amazing. Some of my most memorable experiences have been from GeoForce as well, like the 11th grade academy where we had the bonfire outside at the beach. That is just one thing I still carry with me and I just think that's so important.

Like the sense of community and connection that you get from all of that. The geosciences, like, there's just so many ways you can take it. 

[00:13:10] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, Beach Night, everybody loves Beach Night, and it's not, like, about rocks and things. It's about, I'm a people person, like, that's what I do. I always tell the folks of, like, yes, you know, oh, the rocks are great.

We want to teach kids about rocks, and kids are going to keep coming back if they make friends on the trip. So, like, I, everybody loves Beach Night, like, especially our coordinators who, you know, were students in the program still talk about their Beach Nights. Um, so I'm glad that, like, it has that same impact on you of, like, oh, that was, like, something that I remember, like, and will take with me forever.

[00:13:40] Diya Gaur: Yeah, for sure. So, in your opinion, this is like kind of out there, but what is your favorite GeoForce Academy out of all of them? 

[00:13:47] Mitchel Lambert: I I secretly kind of like the 9th grade a lot. It's not my favorite, but it's like sneaky good, because I really like watching GeoForce Academy. Like, all of the awkward meetings of students, like, they just finished 8th grade, they're still middle schoolers, they're not high school, but like, they're meeting, like, all these new people for the first time, it's their first GeoForce experience, they don't really understand it, and as they kind of realize throughout the week what GeoForce is for them, um, and like, what the next four years could be for them, I really enjoy that, I enjoy those conversations with them of trying to understand, like, what in the world am I supposed to be doing?

And I really like the idea of, like, having kids learn about the places where they live, so the whole thing about GeoForce and geosciences in their context, in their state, um, I think is really important, especially for the kids from Austin, taking them to Longhorn Cavern, to Enchanted Rock, to places that are around their home, when we go down to the coast in Corpus Christi, we can compare that a lot to the folks in Houston, um, cause they have, you know, very similar coastline, same, you know, hurricane effects, All of the, those similar experiences that they have, um, and can be like, oh, this is a way that I can learn about geosciences in my backyard.

Um, my actual favorite trip is, um The Oregon trip just in general because I like volcanoes. That was one of the my fascinations when I was a kid. Um, you know, didn't turn out to be that STEM person really, but loved the idea of that like the Mount St. Helens like visit and everything. That was one of the things that I got like sucked into when I was like an elementary middle school kid of like learning, you know, all the things I could about volcanoes.

Um, so that is my personal favorite as well as like that's the one where we get to race students up a dune and I get to show kids. That, you know, being 15 years older than them has a great advantage in, like, beating them in a race. So, the competitor in me really, really likes that. True. The 11th grade is my favorite, but the 9th grade is, I think, my second favorite.

[00:15:47] Diya Gaur: Okay, I see. Yeah, I like the 11th grade as well. I think 11th and 12th grade have been my favorites, like, just because, like, 11th grade is so beautiful, like, you learn about, like, the Ring of Fire, and there's just, like, so much interesting stuff. It's such a versatile environment. You go from being Right at the ocean, and then like you go to seeing the on land features, like the volcanoes, and how they form, so that's like super interesting, like, you see both sides of the coin, really.

Yeah. 

The Importance of Hands-On Learning

[00:16:14] Diya Gaur: So, I mean, in your opinion, why do you think it's so important for students to be able to go out to all these different places and learn about geology? How does it complement their learning and what they're doing in GeoForce? 

[00:16:27] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, so Texas, basically in the education system in Texas, the last time you have to take an earth science is like 7th grade, or like in middle school.

There isn't an earth science or a geoscience, um, like mandatory class that you take in high school. Very few schools will offer something like that, um, so it is a way that, like, one of the few ways that kids can get engaged in geosciences. You know, in a way that is provided for them. Especially with GeoForce being like a free program for all the students.

Um, we can take folks, um, from all kinds of different walks of life and backgrounds. Um, and take them to, to see things that they're passionate about and interested in. It's a way to engage them in, in learning, in hands on activity in the field. Literally every single place that we go, like on our academies, there is a time at least once where we set aside for them to do hands on activities.

Like the ninth grade, we take them and they do The beach profiling, they do grain sizes, they do um, longshore drift, and these are like little experiments that they are running out on the beach. Um, 10th grade, we do the dam debate, and we have them, you know, say, you know, what, what would the impacts of this dam be if it were to be built now, um, split them up and say, okay, y'all, this group is going to represent farmers.

Um, that are north of the dam, like, are upriver. How would that impact them? We put kids in scenarios where they have to critically think and assess, um, what they have seen on the academies, and then translate that to us in a way to, like, teach us so they know that they understand, you know, what they have seen, what they are learning, um, in those hands on experiences.

It's important to take folks seriously. You know, out into the world to see those geological processes, where they're happening. So they can, you know, as we're hiking down the Grand Canyon, see the layers changing around them, um, as we go down to Uah Point. It's super important for them to get to, to have that hands on experience, um, in seeing that.

And then doing the critical analysis of, you know, what are we seeing? How does that impact us? How do those processes actually work in tandem with each other? Um, cause, you know, the, the uplift and the Grand Canyon being carved by the river, you know, both happen at the same time, um, to create, like, the, the spectacle that we can see here in front of us.

It's really important to get them out in the field so they can experience that for themselves. Um, I was not a great student in a classroom. I don't sit still well. It was, I had undiagnosed ADHD for a very long time. There's a reason I was, like, gravitated towards summer work and outdoor activities and, uh, like, un Formal education was because that's like where I thrived, um, as a student.

And so I, you know, think it's important to give kids those opportunities outside of classroom, especially when that's not required in Texas education. 

[00:19:17] Diya Gaur: Yeah, for sure. I, like, agree with that statement as well, like, I mean, sometimes it's also hard for me to just, like, sit in one place, like, get my work done on time, you know, like that, so, like, when we had the GeoForce Academies, even, like, the 12th grade ones, I don't really think I felt like, even though I was sitting in the lab, like, that I didn't want to be there, like, I really like the opportunity that the students are getting in order to be able to choose what they want to do and, you know, actively pursue it, and it has, like, such a good outcome in the end, like, you learn so many skills, So in the Western Antarctica Ice Sheet Lab, I had to code in Python in order to create this, like, big map, which is now on my research poster.

But there's just so many things and facets to GeoForce that end up being so rewarding later in life. Everyone should know how to code, like, it's a skill that we all need. Need to learn in the, like, upcoming years. It's become so much more prevalent, and that's kind of something that stays with you forever.

So, highly agree, and I highly recommend the GeoForce program for sure. 

Guest Speakers and Mentorship

[00:20:16] Diya Gaur: So, just to add on to that, like, the guest speakers, why is it important that, you know, GeoForce brings in guest speakers, and how does it, like, you know, overall kind of make the learning process a bit easier, or, you know, kind of captivate students to go into geology?

[00:20:32] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, so guest speakers look a little different on all of our academies. We have alumni mentors or corporate mentors that come and join us on our traveling academies, that 11th. Um, generally it's, you know, the alumni mentors are someone who was in the program in the same shoes as the students, who, you know, the students can ask them questions of what their experience was like when they were kids, as well as, like, what are they doing now?

Um, how, what, you know, what did their path look like? Um, a lot of them are in geoscience, like, fields right now for professional work. Yeah. We also have corporate mentors who come in who are from organizations that support us to say, like, hey, you know, this is what, you know, your investment in these students looks like for them.

And we want them to be able to ask you questions of what does your day to day look like? What does it mean to be a geoscientist? Like, what does that look like for you? Um, do you get to go places? We get folks who are asking like, oh, well, do you get to travel all over? And we have guest speakers who are like, yeah, I was paid to live in four different countries, you know, while I was working for Chevron or for, you know, Shell or whatever.

And that person is. So, there's lots of different places where the mentors on academies can talk to students and say, you know, this was my story, this is what I do, um, in a day to day, this is what my job looks like, this is what it's like to be a geoscientist. And then on the 12th grade, we brought in a bunch of different speakers, um, to say like, what is, what does it look like if you are not, you know, in the industry?

We had, um, some folks who did, like, um, environmental science policy that came in and talked with y'all. Um, we had folks that came in, And shared their stories where, you know, it may have been different than you and I, but someone else in that room may have had a similar life experience as them. I'm saying, like, this, geoscientists come in lots of different backgrounds, lots of different places, there are lots of different motivating factors as to why someone wants to get into geosciences or do, you know, work tangentially related.

We have somebody who came, um, they're alumni that came in, um, on a different academy, and they're, like, have always known they want to be an artist. Always known they want to be an artist. Um, there are kids on this twelfth grade that, like, know they want to be an artist. And they say, yeah, that's great, I want to be an artist, but I did really like GeoForce and Geoscientist.

So, when they went to college to do their art degree, got a minor in, um, environmental science, because they want to be the person who designs, um, you know, the displays at museums. They want to be the person who can communicate that information that they know about the geoscientists while still using, you know, their passion for and skills as an artist.

So it's like how, how can you be, you know, tangentially related to geoscientists? Maybe a way that you haven't thought of, but someone else that we brought in may be able to say like, oh, this is, you know, what I do. This is a different option that you can do and still be, you know, related to the geoscience fields.

[00:23:28] Diya Gaur: For sure. Yeah, I agree. Like, I mean, initially, I wanted to go into medicine, but really GeoForce taught me that there's so much more to geology than just rocks, like, you can go super far and you can put together disciplines like chemistry, biology, physics, like, just so many stuff together and just put it into geology and, you know, find something that interests you, so, I mean, geology's not just the study of rocks, and like, on the 12th grade academy, I remember that one of my friends was doing the drawing, and Research project where they had to like go to the coast, I believe, and they were making a brochure for one of the parks.

I mean, I kind of like remember a little bit about it, but not too much, but I think it's really cool how you can just like involve so many different disciplines and like put it into one. So it's like, it's really cool. Amazing, like, perfect, love it. 5