well um so um have do you have a son or daughter that's looking for a college
uh been through it
ah i'm still in it
okay no we've uh we've had two children graduate so and i have worked at universities
uh-huh
so it was a topic that uh seemed appropriate as far as discussion like this
right
you had you're in the process of planning for or your children are there
no i'm i'm i'm i'm still in college i'm still a student
oh okay okay all right
i'm graduating this May yeah
this May well good where are you
uh North Carolina State University
very good uh uh the uh planning for college tuition and all the associated costs is a tough tough decision at
yeah
yeah i think it's it's when you're looking for a college that you want to go i think you really should know exactly what you want to be so you can pick the best quality
how did you choose North Carolina State
i chose it basically that way uh North Carolina State has a reputation for being uh good agricultural school
um-hum it's a land grant university right
in the area
exactly and um they have a good extension service for agriculture and uh i wanted to go into agriculture so i came here
yeah
and since since i was in you know in-state i pay resident i pay resident tuition so it was also a it was also good for me because you know being a good school plus in-state tuition saved me a lot of money
the
oh yes it certainly does and familiarity with the area there's sometimes advantages to moving way off and going to a unknown area but uh there's as many
right well for example yeah yeah i i think that's very true because for example uh i'm going to graduate school after i finish here and uh i'm going to go to California
to stay in the same area
yeah uh two reasons for that i think if they even recommend in advanced degrees to
uh try a different set of teachers get a different perspective as far as the the advanced degrees they'd like for you to change rather than stay in the same institution
that's true
yeah
yeah i mean they would like for you to stay so that you know
they they could keep getting your money but one you know an employer likes to see different schools i think
right
um-hum and i and i think a very good advisor would uh tell you that it's best for you anyway to get a different uh
different set of instructors on it and a little different outlook and plus there are regional differences i think too California may have a different
type of emphasis now agriculture changes by region as far as it's emphasis is concerned middle of the country would be wheat land here it's tobacco and uh California it may be
right
uh more of the grapes and and uh other types of
right they have in California they have a lot of heavy metal problems also and a lot of salts because of the valleys very very salty
oh yes
right
that's what i i was interested when i went over there i i uh talked to some people in the university
i think also you know um dialogue between university professors helps a lot in decisions because i think that's what really turned me
towards that you know the the school that i'm going to is i went and talked to the people in the school and they gave me information which i could not have gotten otherwise and that that really finalized my decision
um-hum
yeah what is your specialty
well i'm graduating with just a soil science degree here in North Carolina but i hopefully will go to California to receive a PhD in uh
soil science with a specialization in environmental environmental quality
uh-huh
which will deal with uh eco-toxicology heavy metals and soils and things like that so away from the production agriculture end of it and more into the soils and you know contaminants
um-hum um-hum
so i'm kind of branching off into a pretty specific region which i think is going to be a hot topic in the future with you know all these lands and and things that are being spoiled
no question
and how to how to remediate them and all
no question you i'm sure you you and your classmates have been following the uh
waste situation in North Carolina and the the absence or facility to handle
right especially in the sounds
right and it's it's a universal problem you know
if you look at uh some countries you expect them to have problems Latin America now with cholera and and a bunch of other problems associated with
um-hum
waste management
the United States you can expect more out of but we still have the same very deep problem of how to take care of our waste we create a bunch now now what do we do with it
yeah now that now that it's getting harder to get permits for landfills uh the the problem's pressing down harder than ever
yeah and then i think there's a a big mistrust public mistrust as there is with nuclear energy
uh they were talking about Chernobyl again this this week because it's an anniversary but i think there's a big mistrust of uh
some of the waste management companies in terms of how well they do take care of their product
and that's got to be solved i think there has to be public trust in it before you can
yes uh i agree with you
find a good sight
well i wish you luck in California
yeah uh thanks a lot it was nice talking to you all right bye
okay
same here bye
