Gavin Johnston Student Interview

1. Charles C. Warner, Forestry and Natural Resources, 2021 warner88@purdue.edu

2. He started in exploratory studies and didn’t know what he wanted to do but he knew he

loved hunting and being outside and found upperclassman friends In a club and they

should him the forestry major and he was very impressed and it’s a lot of hands on stuff

and it matched everything he liked doing. (very small tight nit group)

3. Freshmen year is a lot of gen ed classes sophomore year you get into the major classes

and there is a lot of field work lot of going out into the actual woods and be introduced

different tree species learn how to tack inventory and learn how to take base area a lot

of labs and identification labs professors are very hands on and detailed and expect a lot

and expect you to reason and use your skills from previse classes.

4. End of sophomore year all the classes you take and the whole forestry class take a five

week trip to Michigan and teach field resources and allow for a 9 credit hour field class

using the skills they learned into and actual practice and it also let him create some

really great friendships. Campus course was forest measurements learn to read

numbers as a forester and what certain numbers for a forester means.

5. Two classes that really stick out one is forest ecosystems and the reason is because it’s a

very lab heavy course and the lab portion is pretty much one big long group project and

with it being like that it’s hard to work well with others when the group isn’t completing

their tasks or helping. The other course is tree physiology and that is the nitty gritty

from cellular structure to overall form of the tree and you learn why and how trees grow
 and it was hard because the professor is very particular and expects a lot of the students

how take it.

6. Learn how to talk to people know how to have a conversation with a land owner and

identify specific goals of what they want for their forest and be good with people and

also be good with numbers and know how to apply those numbers and what they mean

and how those numbers affect your prescriptions and have a good understanding of

biology and know how animals plants and ecosystems manage naturally and how it

works and lastly have a good sense of direction working in the woods it can be hard to

know where you are and help you from getting lost.

7. This past summer he had an internship with a company, and he was a log buyer and. Her

was offered a job with them and he will start his career as a log buyer in Ohio but he

also planning on attending graduate school and go into more of a teaching role and that

will depend on what schools accept him. Most students don’t need to go to graduate

school and it depends on the person and what they decide to do and looks good and

usually more for teaching and higher positions in companies. Consulting foresters-land

owners call and to help them manage their woods. Log buyers- scale logs and find board

footage and assign a price to each log then buy them. Forests services- prescribe fires,

forest inventory, forest research, and a lot more. Urban forestry- tree care company’s

make sure power lines are clear and remove trees in people’s yards.

8. Five weeks up in Michigan that he took and highly recommends. Forest products

society- learn ins and outs of wood product industry like stave mills and lumber mills

and a wood working club that helps provide funds for tours. Society of American
 foresters- learn ins and outs of forestry industry and go to a conference every year with

career fairs have an event called conclave similar to lumber jack competitions.

What is the most important thing students looking at this major should know?

9. This major is very big on personality needs to be a person that wants to be outside and

doesn’t want to be pint up in an office and needs to understand biology and know how

to talk to people and have good people and communication skills. Wanting to do a lot of

research and learn new ways to do things like implementing lidar and drones to do

inventory’s and do “x-rays” of trees to test wood quality. A lot of tree research and

money put into combating insects and animals threating tress and keeping them form

going extinct. If you love the outdoors and working outside is interesting to you then

forestry is a good place for you because there is a whole lot of jobs and careers you can

get into and to be successful you have to be able to work with others and have a good

understanding of natural process. And meeting people similar to yourself is a great thing

about forestry is amazing especially since its smaller classes there is more personal

bonds.