photo by Matthew Claybrook
Jackpot is a new series in which we highlight a variety of students and the cool things they’ve done. Every story highlights a different student, who we’ve selected at random. This week, we talked to Rose Gremillion, a junior with a passion for geoscience, who also works two jobs and plays on the Ultimate Frisbee club team.
Only a few weeks into the fall semester, junior Rose Gremillion is kicking it into high gear. While most Trinity students are sound asleep, Gremillion is on her way to a 5 a.m. shift at The Container Store before attacking the full schedule of a geosciences major.
On her off days from unloading trucks at The Container Store, Gremillion also works for Richard Silver in the Department of Geosciences doing odd jobs like replacing the labels on the second floor of Marrs McLean Hall that show Earth’s geological history through time. Although such a full schedule can seem overwhelming, Gremillion said she’s able to manage it well.
“I’ve gotten really good at compartmentalizing when I do my work and getting it done, [so] I have time to do other things,” Gremillion said. “This semester, I joined the Ultimate Frisbee team. [Frisbee is] definitely the stress relief.”
Gremillion said she wasn’t so organized last year. She originally switched from a biology major to environmental studies and then, after experiencing a lot of doubt, she realized that she was doing the wrong thing. She couldn’t picture herself with a career in environmental studies, so she switched paths, and at the end of her sophomore spring semester, she declared a geosciences major.
“I was taking one [geosciences] class last semester, and halfway through the semester, I realized that I really looked forward to studying and going into class itself,” Gremillion said. “It was like a lightbulb went off. This semester, I’m taking almost all [geosciences] classes, and I love it so much. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel really content in what I’m learning.”
It was after declaring a major and thinking about her future career over the summer that Gremillion started working her first two jobs while studying, starting at The Container Store in June and in the Department of Geosciences at the start of the semester. She said she wants to start saving for her future and to be able to support herself.
“It feels really good to have structured things that are built into my schedule that get [me] out of [my] room and talking to other people,” Gremillion said. “In a way, my work is a break from schoolwork, and schoolwork is a break from work. Each time I get to one, it feels like a relief from the other. It’s just fun to get to engage with people and also be making money.”
Gremillion loves the outdoors, so she said moving from Houston’s concrete cityscape to Trinity’s green campus was a nice change. However, she dislikes that many Trinity students tend to stress and scramble to find a career path. She advised underclassmen to slow down and think about what they really want to do.
“It’s kind of a Trinity state of being to constantly be nervous and undeclared and not know what you’re going to do,” Gremillion said. “It’s never too late to change your major in college because if you major in something you hate, you’re going to have that degree for the rest of your life. It’s a lot harder to go back to school than to switch a major.”
For Gremillion, this advice was crucial. Now, she’s on a path to study what she loves with sights set on working at an aquifer after college, even if it takes early mornings at work and late nights of homework to get there.
“Nothing on my schedule feels like I don’t really want to do it,” she said. “If you have a passion for something, you find work around where you can. I just really like rocks.”
