What do soccer, summer camps, and volcanoes have in common? For Mitchel Lambert, they all came together in the perfect storm to shape his role as a coordinator for GeoForce. In this episode, Mitchel opens up about his unexpected journey from sports administration to guiding high school students through the wild world of geology. From drone mapping to discussions about earthquakes, we dive into how GeoForce takes learning outside the classroom and shows students the real impact of geoscience on their lives.

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

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Transcript

Personal Experiences and Reflections

[00:24:20 ] Diya Gaur: What was one of your favorite, like, moments during the 12th grade academy?

There were just so many. If I were to answer the question myself, I think one thing, not my favorite, but something memorable that I remember is that when we were stuck at the vending machines on the first day of camp, um, I was with my best friend Nadia, who you also know, and we went to go buy some snacks from the vending machines, and so we were trying to buy multiple items at once and then, you know, It just wouldn't dispense, and so Jennifer almost came up and checked on us, like, Okay, like, what is going on?

And, I mean, it's just, kind of those moments that you also carry, like, as a GeoForce student, the interactions with staff members, fellow GeoForce people, it's just amazing, and so that's, like, a lot of things that I can take away from it. You know, my interactions with people, like my fellow students there, the staff members, as well as the guest speakers.

Like, I've had such amazing conversations with some of the, like, guest speakers and also the research group leads and mentors, which we had at the Kiesling Lab, which is where I was doing the ice sheet modeling at J. J. Pickle. I just had so much of, like, meaningful conversation added to my experience there.

It kind of just gave me another fresh perspective into the geologies. So I mean, that's super memorable and like one of my favorite parts of geology and geoforce. So I want to ask that question to you. What is your favorite part of geoforce, more specific to the 12th grade academy? 

[00:25:48 ] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, so I, pre summer, um, Jennifer and I had a number of conversations with Jamie Austin who, you know, has been a part of geoforce for a long time.

He's been working at UTIG for 46 years. Like he has been around from geoforce. Um, early on, he used to lead every single one of our 12th grade academies, and what he would do, he was telling us, like, he would make students stand up at the front, in front of all of their peers, and tell them, do their career aspiration pitch, of like, this is who I am, like, this is where I'm from, I, this is why I initially got involved in GeoForce, you know, and this is what I wanna do with my, you know, when I go to school, when I go to college, this is what I wanna study, and this is what I wanna do for my career.

Um, and he was like, I'm gonna make them stand up in front of everybody. In my head, I'm like, I am the a huge extrovert, I'm here for it. I have worked with so many kids who are like not about it at all and speak in front of people, and I'm like, how is this gonna go? He is like certain that this is gonna work, and I am like, I don't know if this is gonna work, but like, night one of that first group that went up, when Tim Gouge's group went up, and they all, like, had been practicing throughout the day, and they all crushed it, I was like, oh, this is gonna be, like, meaningful, to, like, sit here and listen to all the students and have them, you know, talk about, you know, how they got engaged with GeoForce, what they wanna do, um, hearing all these people saying, like, oh, I'm gonna go, uh, be a cardiac surgeon, or I'm gonna do Neurosurgery, or I'm gonna go into geosciences.

I'm gonna be a geophysicist and study earthquakes specifically. Having all the students stand up and go and present, like, this is what I'm gonna do, and, like, by and large, everybody crushed it, like, got up there, and it was super cool to, like, see What brought people to GeoForce? So many people were like, oh, my mom signed me up and made me go.

Like, that was so many people. And they're like, and of course, Jamie would be like, okay, but did you enjoy it? And they're like, oh, yeah, I had a great time. It was fantastic. Like, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. So that was super cool for me of getting to like, see and listen and kind of learn a little bit about all that.

I also, like, as you have seen on the different academies, enjoy getting to know the students, getting to, like, talk with them, um, in different ways. I love the unstructured mealtimes of walking, er, like, during unstructured times like mealtimes, where I can walk around and talk to different groups of students and everything.

And there were a crew of students that were from the southwest that had gone out to the coast for three days, and so I saw them, like, Sunday, the beginning of Monday morning, and then they peaced out on Tuesday. And it's like, Friday, they've gotten back, and I went over and talked with them, and I addressed them by name, and they're like, what, how do you know my name?

like, kid, I'm good at my job! What do you mean, how do you, how do I know your, I need to know your name! Like, you don't just disappear because you went to the coast! True, 

[00:28:33 ] Diya Gaur: yeah, I mean, yeah, 

[00:28:35 ] Mitchel Lambert: like It's just like, those little, those little interactions is, are great, and it's like, why I love working with students so much.

Just those interactions here and there that we have, like, just throughout the week, I find super rewarding and invigorating. 

[00:28:49 ] Diya Gaur: Yeah, like, me as well, like, I also really vividly remember having to go up and present my speech, um, in front of, like, 200 kids. No, was it 200 kids? 117. Yeah. Yeah, 150. Yeah. 

[00:29:03 ] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, 150 with all staff.

[00:29:05 ] Diya Gaur: Yeah, so about 150 people, like, that was, that was a lot. I mean, at first I was like, kind of nervous to go up there, but it's really that moment where you're like, Okay, so everyone in the room has done this, and so this is kind of what you need to do, like, going into life, like, you have to know how to talk to people, and so, you know, it's like, in that kind of way that I felt kind of empowered by it at the end, like, Oh yeah, I survived my two minute speech, which I was like really dreading like in the beginning, but honestly when I went up there and talked to my peers, it really wasn't that bad.

Instead, it was like kind of fun. And I also really loved hearing about like all of their different experiences because, you know, we are from all over Texas, like we have so many different cultural, socioeconomic types of backgrounds, and so it's like really meaningful to be able to hear You know, other peers like our age see what they want to do in life, like their aspirations and their motivations for it.

So that's like something that you don't hear every day and it was nice because there's so many people in the academy already and it's hard to kind of know what they want to do exactly and so it kind of gave you a better understanding of them. Yeah, I really love that. 

[00:30:12 ] Mitchel Lambert: And two, I was so surprised. 

[00:30:14 ] Diya Gaur: Yeah, in your experience, like, how has working with GeoForce, and like, you know, talking, engaging with all these students, like, changed your perspective on geology and education overall?

[00:30:26 ] Mitchel Lambert: Yeah, when I was applying for the job, I was like, I, I know a bit about geology, like, because my grandfather was a geologist for Exxon, and he would tell me all the things, and literally what it boils down to is geologists lick rocks. And try and figure out what they are. I was like, that's, that's all of my knowledge of geology.

Like, I know there are different layers, um, and everything like that. And last year, on my ninth grades, because those were the first academies that I went on, um, we had a bigger focus on quizzes and like, assessments. And so I would take the tests and quizzes with the kids and be like, alright, let's see if you can beat me.

And a lot of times they could. I got a lot of 7 out of 10s. And so, it was like, I, I was like, open up, I'm like, hey, look kids, I am learning this stuff just as well as you are, right here, right now. Um, and, there are some things, like, I know most, if there's a rock I can see in Texas, it's almost always limestone.

Like, I got that. True! There, there's small little things that I'm like, I've picked up on. Um, you know, I, like, have an appreciation for all of the folks who teach, like, our instructors, um, who are folks who, like, are Ph. D. candidates or have their Ph. D. and are current researchers and instructors for college students.

Talking with them and hearing, you know, how much they care about their specific, very niche aspects of geosciences has been super enlightening. We, we joke, like, with some of the different instructors, um, we sit here and joke about they'll go into really in depth stuff about Mars and how it doesn't have tectonics, da da da da da, and I'll sit over here and I'll just be like, nerd, and then at the same time he's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, uh huh, and what, tell me about MLS and this new roster thing that you're talking about.

And so I'll go off for 10 minutes about, you know, MLS roster constructions and how the Domestic Soccer League works, and I hear, NERD, and it's just those little things of like the little aspects of the thi