Student Bios

Mel Humphrey

I plan to graduate in December with a B.A. in Maritime Studies.  I am also completing minors in anthropology and biology.  Ultimately, I would love to find some work in maritime archaeology.  After graduation, I hope to do a field school in aviation archaeology…after a reef dive or two in the Caribbean!  As a kid, I pretended to fly (my swing on the playground) in search of Amelia Earhart’s plane.  I would love to join TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery) on the next phase of their Earhart Project.  The skills I am learning this summer could make a childhood dream come true.  Regardless, I feel fortunate to have worked with the faculty, graduate students, and senior supervisors of the combined field school.

Stewart Hood

I am from Richmond, VA and have recently moved to Pensacola for graduate school.  I am currently taking the 2011 UWF combined field school as a prerequisite for graduate school.  I attended Virginia Commonwealth University and received my BA in history and my MA in teaching.  After teaching for a short while I realized I would rather be working with the artifacts and history rather than teaching it.  I looked for programs that had an emphasis on maritime study as well as terrestrial fieldwork and found that UWF suited both these needs.  I have really enjoyed the field school this summer as well as my other prerequisite classes and am looking forward to continuing these studies at the graduate level.

Michelle Balut

When I was in grade school, my family's house sat atop the old city landfill, so if you were to dig about a foot into the ground you would find spoons, boots, marbles, and other cool old stuff. I suppose that's where my interest in archaeology started. In December I'll graduate with a B.A. in Archaeology with a minor in Maritime Studies. I had an amazing time during the maritime portion of field school as well as learning about the world of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) from the terrestrial portion.

Kevin Bender

I chose to major in anthropology and maritime studies because I like to learn about other cultures, particularly past cultures. I also enjoy going out to different locations and looking for artifacts that can help explain how ancient people lived and developed. I hope to work in a museum or archaeology lab, or an underwater archaeologist.