Chris Konik
Western was the right choice for me because of its location and its economical value. I’ve grown up in Colorado Springs, and apart from a few other states that hold the same physical characteristics, I would not want to be in any other place. Colorado is a lifestyle, that’s why so many people love it here.
After I graduate I’ll have minimal student loans and a degree that rivals many college institutions in and around Colorado. To me this means that I’ll have the same advantages as other grads without the disadvantages of outrageous amounts of student debt. This is why I feel that Western was the right choice. Its value and location surpass any other school that I would have gone to.
It’s been stated many times, but the Gunnison outdoors is the best thing about going to school at Western. Since I decided to go to Western in the spring of 2008 I have spent every summer here. I enjoy camping, biking, snowboarding, fishing, hiking, floating the river, playing campus golf and cliff jumping. Just being outdoors surrounded by mountains and rivers is my favorite part about Western and its location.
After being a part of the PLRM program, and also majoring in economics, I would like to become a landman for a resource company after graduation. In a nut shell a landman negotiates surface and mineral rights for the exploration and or development of minerals on behalf of the interested party. However this is a very broad definition. Landmen can also determine ownership of surface/mineral rights through public and private records, cure title, and work directly with the federal government, the state, and/or private mineral owners.
I will graduate this year in May 2013 with a double major in Business Administration with an emphasis in professional land and resource management and a second major in economics. I’m involved with WAPL, which is part of the PLRM program. It stands for Western Association of Professional Landmen. I’m also involved with the Denver Association of Professional Landmen (DAPL) and the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL). I Interned for QEP resources in Denver during the summer of 2012.
This year I have had the excellent fortune of being able to go to NAPE and the NWMA conference. NAPE stands for the North American Prospect Expo and they have two events each year; one in the summer and one in the winter. Winter NAPE is the largest upstream exploration and production expo in the U.S. For me it was basically an insanely large networking event. I met many individuals and companies that, with a bit of luck and perseverance on my part, will help me find employment opportunities after graduation. NWMA stands for North West Mining Association. They had a conference in Spokane Washington a few months ago. NWMA is a 118-year-old non-profit national association that represents the hard rock mining industry in the U.S. and other countries. Through the event I learned a great deal about new prospects, technological advances and environmental regulations in the mining industry. It provided me the opportunity to expand on what I have learned in my PLRM and econ classes and gained some real world knowledge on the mining industry.
All my professors and advisors have helped me in some way and I thank them for it. I have developed meaningful relationship with them in and out of the classroom that will hopefully extend into my old age.
That’s the great part about Western, you’re not just a number, you’re an individual who has the opportunity to really get to know your professor and what they have studied. If I had a top three for classes they would be money and banking, water law and my economics capstone which is about Income inequality.
To learn more about the Professional Land & Resource Management Program, click here.
