There are many careers in geology, including jobs for mining and oil companies and government. California is a good place to teach geology right now because many community colleges are building up their programs in geology and environmental science, oceanography, and meteorology. You need only a Masters degree to teach geology at a community college. There will continue to be jobs dealing with groundwater, predicting earthquake hazards, and land sliding (look at all the landslides that block the highways--geological engineers need to figure out how to make better road cuts!). There is a growing need right now for geologists with computer skills, like Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

What I would do to prepare for geology and science classes is to study hard in your math and science classes, and keep asking you teachers a lot of questions!

Some careers in Marine Biology:Ichthyologist, Marine Parisitologist, Field Ecologist, Marine Mammalologist. Start now by volunteering as an intern at the Zoo, Museum, UCSB, Fish & Game, National Park, Marine Sanctuary, or Sea Center.

I am a biologist. Some of the jobs I've had so far include technician in a state crime lab, technician in a neurobiology lab, science teacher (high school age), outdoor education instructor at Girl Scout camp, and college biology instructor. Now I do research on how rodents deal with environments that vary.

Some of the other jobs open to biologists include human and veterinary medicine and related jobs (veterinary technician, paramedic, physical therapist, etc.), government agency work (game management, environmental protection, disease control, etc.), research for private companies (agricultural and medical research, environmental consulting, etc.), communications (producing nature programs, writing books, doing artwork for scientific publication, etc.). There are hundreds of other jobs too.

Some of the things you can do now to prepare for a biology career are: take classes in science, math, computers, and foreign languages. The more languages you know, the more places in the world you can work. There are many travel opportunities for biologists. Reading and writing skills are important too. Practice being a careful observer. Look at some of the living things in your school yard and local park. Try to write descriptions of them. Watch birds or mammals. What are they doing? The most important thing for a biologist to do is to ask interesting questions, so you're on the right track.