Leo Boostrom

Andrea Zehentner

Senior ISM

24 September 2021
Mentor Interview Essay

My mentor, Julie Massey, is now the head of the AgriLife Extension office in Galveston.

She has worked there for over 20 years in conjunction with the Texas Master Naturalists and

other volunteer programs. The insight provided by Julie during this interview brought forth new

information and her own thoughts on her career as a marine biologist, environmental educator,

and supervisor.

Most people have some idea of what they want to accomplish in their field of choice,

when asked what her ideas were when starting in her field, Julie stated, “…I wanted to be able to

have a job that was satisfying and that kept me engaged and interested, and where I was

contributing maybe to the world of science…” She went on to continue her answer, “…I wanted

something that was … challenging, and something that I could support myself with… And be

happy to go to work every day.” It seems that many people in recent years would benefit from

this outlook as the youth of today typically believe they must strive to be the best in their field.

That belief can be quite harmful to one’s view of their future and career plans, whereas a view

like Julie’s would likely benefit the majority of people who do see the future in that light.

Julie’s initial answer to the question of what she hoped to accomplish when starting her

career, because of this a follow-up question was asked to provide more information. She was

asked if she had had any kind of bigger picture ideas when beginning in this field. Her response

provided new information about the early stages of her career, “…at first I was interested really

in aquaculture because my big picture idea was… ‘how do we feed the people of the world as
Leo Boostrom

Andrea Zehentner

Senior ISM

24 September 2021
our population grew?” She elaborated further, “…then one of my professors talked to me

about… doing aquaculture and kind of directed me in a different direction. I guess he could

see… where my talents were and also that that’s a hard field to get into… but big picture for me

was I wanted to be able to explore the oceans and to learn more and share that with other

people.” The information that Julie once had her sights set on another field goes further to show

that people, as a whole, are not always aware of what would and wouldn’t work for them in the

future. It also brings up the fact that sometimes the ones we look up to can steer our lives in a

different direction than was our initial desire.

A follow-up comment was made on the new information of the field Julie had originally

wanted to go into, she continued to talk on how her professor affected her career choices, “But I

have to tell you, I think that professor, when he talked to me… at first… it was kind of…a little

bit, maybe disappointed, that he didn’t like, you know, ‘Whoo-rah go for it… Julie!’ But he was

really…he was reflective, and he was giving me his best advice really. On where careers should

go, and he was a person who was… close to retirement age…so he had been in the field for a

long time. And he knew the field so…it was good advice for me, even though at the time I

wasn’t quite sure… But it really was, cause I would not really have been suited for the work in

aquaculture.” Julie’s experiences with her past professor are important in that interacting with

someone that has lived through the same career path one may want to pursue could unveil new

opportunities and knowledge.

Julie was asked another question as to if she had any regrets in her decision to pursue her

career. Her response was quite surprising, “Well, I don’t know that I have regrets, I have things
Leo Boostrom

Andrea Zehentner

Senior ISM

24 September 2021
that I know that I probably should have…or might’ve done differently… I was offered jobs at

one point… in California and… DC… and, you know, you kind of go, ‘well maybe I should

have… tried one of those other opportunities.” Julie described one of the positions she was

offered that she would have had to go up a stepping ladder to become a supervisor over large

multistate programs. Which would have been quite similar to her current role as supervisor of her

office, only on a much larger scale. She remarked again that she occasionally had the wonder of

“what if” regarding the positions offered to her.

The final question presented to Julie was the question of if she made minimum wage at

her job, would she still do it? Julie’s response followed a very logical thought process, beginning

with consideration of the livability of minimum wage, and if she would be able to support herself

and her family. Taking into consideration her role as the office supervisor, she stated, “So, I

think if I was making minimum wage I would be going ‘why did I…why do I have two degrees

and…so many years of experience and I’m still making minimum wage. Maybe I did not value

my education, or my life even.” In this thought process Julie followed, she touched on an issue

becoming increasingly common in recent years: the issue of people getting higher education and

experience, only to make an unlivable wage or be forced to work a job they don’t connect with.

A final follow-up question was given to Julie, inquiring that, if she had ended up making

minimum wage in her job, would she have chosen to keep her current job and do more on top of

it, or would she search for a job that she may not like as much that paid better. She confidently

replied, “…I would probably have stayed with this job, I mean, you know it’s about passion and

doing a job…I’ve always had jobs where I was very satisfied with the work that I was getting to
Leo Boostrom

Andrea Zehentner

Senior ISM

24 September 2021
do, and it was satisfying to…my person… So, I think I would have to probably do it, I would be

working other jobs too…” As seen with all of Julie’s responses thus far, she is a vey passion

driven person, but not so much so that she would risk being unable to support what is most

important to her – her family’s well-being.

Every point made by Julie during this interview struck as something that would normally

only come with vast amounts of experience. Both in life and in her career field, Julie has held a

set of ideals and followed them wherever her passion took her. Many people would likely benefit

from also hearing what wisdom Julie has been more than willing to share.

Citations

Boostrom, Leo. Personal interview. 23 September 2021.

Massey, Julie. Mentorship interview. 23 September 2021