George Mason University graduate student Jose Meneses has always been fascinated by the natural world. Like many future scientists, he spent hours as a child watching nature documentaries.
“I grew up watching National Geographic and the Smithsonian Channel,” said the Falls Church, Virginia, native. “I’ve always been interested in nature, biology, ecology—anything related to wildlife.”
During the pandemic, Meneses transferred to George Mason from Radford University to be closer to home. That decision that would ultimately reshape his future.
One opportunity in particular at his new university caught Meneses’s attention: the Smithsonian–Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) and its Smithsonian–Mason Semester, which allows students to spend a semester at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, conducting research alongside Smithsonian scientists.
“When I heard you could spend an entire semester there doing fieldwork and getting lab experience, I thought that was amazing,” he said.
