Tuesday, January 25, 2011

holly s. hess autobiography

Well, in the midst of all these brainstorming ideas, here's my autobiography. I am a true southerner, born and raised in Augusta, Ga., the home of the Masters. And let me just go ahead and say, only a very small percentage of Augusta is as pretty as the Masters golf course. Anyways, at home, I lived with my brother, Drew, who is 25 and a blade engineer at Sikorksy (the company that makes the black hawk helicopter.) He's an awesome role model and we're really good friends that share many of the same passions. I also lived with my mom, a dental hygienist, and my dad, a medically retired engineer turned carpenter. Also with us, was a cat named Mooney, who has now passed, and a wonderful border collie named Lucky. She is brilliant, almost too brilliant.

Ok, so in high school I was a busy body, probably similar to most of my peers in this class- NHS, yearbook staffer, AP class taker, yada yada. I loved my high school days most because they were filled with sports and good friends. I ran cross-country, swam, and played soccer and tennis all four years while in high school. I was yearbook editor my senior year, but it was just more for fun than my love of journalism.

I came to UGA in 2007, before the massive student center was called the MLC, before Tate 2 existed, before we got new buses, before the economy sucked and before iphones and androids were popular. Yes, I feel old now.

I came to UGA thinking I'd like to study medicine, and went with that for a while. That thought stemmed from various medical mission trips to Spanish speaking countries, but turned out I liked the Spanish side of things more than the medicine. I struggled through my first semester in many ways. One positive thing I discovered during my first fall away from home, was my absolute love of photography. I started shooting macro (close-up) photos on a hiking trip to Panther Creek over fall break, and I was kind of good at it. From there, I started pursuing a career to do with photography. I weaseled my way into a film photography class in the art school and absolutely loved it.

At this point, I was pursuing a Spanish minor and an undecided major, which I stuck with until the Spring of my sophomore year. Then, really out of nowhere, I felt as if I was being led to get a degree in journalism, photojournalism specifically. Well, Grady doesn't offer that major, so I settled for a possible emphasis in photojournalism, applied to Grady, got in and started journalism classes the next fall. That summer though, I headed down to Argentina for two months to finish up my Spanish minor. I studied at the Universidad de Palermo en Buenos Aires for four week, three of which I was sick with the swine flu. Our classes got cut a week short and we were advised to return to the U.S. due to the swine flu outbreak. However, I had already planned to stay down there two extra weeks to tour the country with a friend. We made it three weeks and called it even. My adventures down there were absolutely amazing. If you want to hear some cool stories/see some neat pictures, just ask me.

SIDE NOTE: For most of freshman year, I dated a cute, witty and smart boy named Jim Gernatt. Then sophomore year, we took “a break.” When I came back from my summer in Argentina, I felt led to try dating Jim again (because we had both realized some important things while apart). This turned out to be a wonderful choice. We are still together today and have hopes of making things more permanent in the future. His is recent Terry alum, and is working in Vail, CO at Beaver Creek Resorts until April.

Ok, so back to fall of junior year: Grady classes started to enter my life and I liked it. I took an intro to horticulture class and liked it so much, I signed up for two more classes for the spring. I got way in over my head and loved it. Thus, my horticulture minor was born. Basically, I love plants, I love growing them and I love sharing them. I was so interested in being in the industry that I inquired about working at Trial Gardens on campus (behind Snelling). I was hired soon after and have been working there ever since.

This past summer, I spent my days laboring in the Trial Gardens over the perennials (plants that live on and on). It was a wonderful summer, hot, but great. This fall, I took over the Director of Marketing and Social Media position, which I wasn’t sure I could handle at first, but now I love it.

So here I am, in my final semester. Not exactly sure what I want to do with my life, but I know I want to “do what you like and like what you do,”-thank you Life is Good slogan. Here are a few vague thoughts though: I want to be a travel writer, photographer, farm/nursery/greenhouse owner, frequent surfer, and coffee connoisseur. Until the time comes to graduate and find a real job, I’ll keep doing what I do: thrift store shop, volunteer with YoungLife, train for triathlons, be outside as much as possible, and enjoy the small things in life. If you want to keep up with my journalism work, try reading my blog- hollyshess.wordpress.com. Or check out my new website, which is still under construction: www.hollyhessphotography.com.

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