McKENZIE JOHNSON, from Phoenix, Ariz., a four-season starter for the women's varsity volleyball team, led Vassar to three Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association titles and three N.C.A.A. championship bids. U.C.A.A. All-Conference Team all four years and Player of the Year in 2003, she wants the ball bad, as they say in sports. But she also wants the clipboard, the keyboard, and the digital binoculars. Whether she's playing volleyball or researching marine mammals, she wants "to get out there and do it." Directly, hands on, and with a minimum of abstraction and formality.
Did you come to Vassar knowing you wanted to major in environmental studies?
No. I knew that I loved animals and that veterinary school was an option for me, but I wasn't sure I wanted to restrict myself to the sciences. I was also interested in conservation issues. In the E.S. program--which is really an awesome multidisciplinary major--I was able to take my core classes in biology and study other things as well.
You've done volunteer work in a veterinary hospital...you interned at the Hudson Valley Raptor Center...you did U.R.S.I. (Undergraduate Research Summer Institute) with biology professor John Long, researching marine mammals. How has each of these experiences shaped you?
Each of those experiences taught me something important about what I want, and what I don't want. Before I came here, I really thought I knew where I was going. I expected to come out of Vassar and go to vet school and that's that. I am still considering veterinary school, but I definitely don't want to be an in-the-office, work-with-cats-and-dogs vet. They see the same kind of stuff every day--they have nine neuters to get through. I’d find that boring. I would rather work outside, and I'd rather just deal with the animals, not their human caretakers.
What about your research with Dr. Long?
Dr. Long is amazing. He's my mentor, and our lab project was fascinating. I got really interested in whales and fisheries and dolphins, but I also discovered that I don't like the laboratory setting. I thought for a long time that I'd actually like to be a professor and do lab work. And I think I would like teaching college students, especially about environmental issues, because I like talking about that stuff. But I don't like sitting long hours inside a lab doing abstract research on a narrow topic. I like having my hands on whatever I'm studying--touching things, going out in a boat to monitor pods of humpback whales, or doing photo identification. I like doing comprehensive field-based environmental research.
Have you had an opportunity to do that kind of research?
Yes. I went to New Zealand for my J.Y.A. [Junior Year Abroad] with the School for International Training in an environmental studies program. We traveled around New Zealand, learning about their environmental problems. And then, for five weeks, I did independent research, recording data for a census of New Zealand fur seals on South Island, in the middle of nowhere on Nugget Point, which is the southern-most tip. I was working for a scientist who's doing population estimates. I got to know the individual seals after a while!
Were you there all by yourself?
I lived with one other girl who was doing a plant study. We lived in a house that was the former lightkeeper's house. We'd go into town once a week to get food and stuff. We weren't totally isolated. Her advisor lived 20 minutes away, and there were a lot of tourists. People come to Nugget Point to watch yellow-eyed penguins and sea lions and to see the rock formation. But it was fairly remote.
How has volleyball figured into your Vassar experience?
Volleyball helped shape my character and my leadership qualities. It made me thick-skinned. It taught me to be aggressive when I need to. Other players tell me I snap at them or get in their faces, and I don't even remember. I leave it all on the court. I love winning and hate losing, and I guess that makes me fierce. Also, just hitting balls is a great way to relieve stress. I don't think I would have done half as well at Vassar if I hadn't played sports.
Did you come to Vassar intending to play volleyball?
Volleyball was not at all a deciding factor--in fact, I wasn't planning on playing. I went to Central High School in Phoenix, where volleyball is the major women's sport, and I was captain of the team. When I was younger, I thought I'd want to go to a big Division I school , but as I got older, academics became more and more important to me. I became interested in science and took A.P. chemistry and biology. I began playing volleyball more for fun. In the end, I chose Vassar based on academics and location.