Cyan Woodward
Cyan Woodward has been fascinated by geology her whole life. Volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis — “I was interested in learning the mechanisms behind them,” she said.
However, daunted by the math and science, she started as an English major at an Arizona university. After moving to ý with her family and transferring to UAF, she switched to geoscience. “I was like ‘I can actually do this, because it’s something I really, really love,’” she said.
Woodward said she remembers being interested in rocks as a child.
“I used to go to Legoland a lot in California and they had these places in the Pirate Cove where you could get rocks,” she said. “I always begged my mom to let me get a bag of rocks and she was like ‘These aren’t even real.’ And I was like ‘I don’t care. I want a bag of rocks.’ I still have them.”
Naturally, Woodward got involved with the Geoscience Club at UAF. She's now the vice president.
“We recently did a bad movie night. We watched ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ and pointed out all the geological flaws in it,” she said.
Since Woodward was new to ý when she came to UAF, most of her friends were back in Arizona.
“I didn’t know anyone, coming up here,” she recalled. “I lived off campus for a semester. Now I’m on campus because it’s a lot easier to be around for events, and I’ve definitely met a ton of people on campus.”
Woodward also enjoys the rock climbing wall at the Student Recreation Center.
“I feel like rock climbing and geology go hand in hand,” she joked.