When Earth is your domain

Cal State Fullerton has a geography club on campus. Some of the club members include, from rear left, Anthony Macias, Melissa Miller, Anay Palafox, front left, Nick Kline, Gregory Weisberg, club president Roland Pacheco, at globe, Kevin Erbas-White and Ivana Mckonic. H. LORREN AU JR., STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

What is geography?


Geographers explore the diverse regions of the contemporary world in pursuit of global understanding. They tie together the study of human spatial organizations and cultural landscapes with an in-depth investigation of the earth's landforms, climates and vegetation. Their methods range from fieldwork in foreign areas to advanced information technologies like computerized geographic information systems and remote sensing.


Source: CSUF course catalog

Grace Conboy began at Cal State Fullerton as a business major, but business wasn’t for her.

“I never felt comfortable in that building,” she said. “I never made any friends.”

Then she took an introductory geography class and liked it. One more geography class and she was hooked.

“I made friends with everybody,” Conboy said. Everybody is really nice here. You actually get involved when you become friends with a lot of people.”

Geography is a teeny tiny major at Cal State Fullerton, relative to other majors such as business, with about 70 undergraduate students and about 20 graduate students.

Fewer students makes it easier for them to get to know each other. It also means more individualized attention from their professors. “We have the benefit of having a small student to teacher ratio,” student Ivana Mckonic said.

Members of the geography club recently held a meeting in the geography lounge on the fourth floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences building and let this journalist sit in and ask questions. Geography club activities include cultural food night, monthly brown bag speakers, kickball, hikes and camping.

Roland Pacheco, president of the geography club, got into geography after being a history major. “It was something that interested me to a point where I was excited,” he said.

Most of the students in the program began college studying something else before uncovering their passion for geography. One common bond is that they like to travel. And a lot of them aren’t into math – geography doesn’t delve into the realm of calculus. But they do like science.

“You’ll rarely meet a miserable geographer,” Mckonic said. She began college in psychology and then chemistry and biology. Geography combines her love of culture and travel. “It has the scientific aspects I was craving without sitting in a lab all day,” she said.

One thing they’re not is geology majors. People mix them up all the time, Mckonic said. Geography is the study of the Earth in context with humanity. Geology is the study of Earth’s physical structure and characteristics.

There is at least one student who’s studying both geology and geography. “I’m the oddball of the group,” Anthony Macias said.

They tease him that he needs to pick a side. Since geography and geology play against each other in kickball, he sometimes actually does have to pick a side.

Geography might bring to mind memorizing state capitals or places on a map. But it’s more than that. It’s understanding rattlesnake habitats, preserving grasslands, understanding climate patterns, learning other cultures, finding spatial patterns of poverty and knowing where to construct a building. For example, a new store couldn’t be built atop a rare species habitat.

“It’s an important field. It affects everything,” Mckonic said. “Your life itself is affected by geography. Your culture, your language, the things you eat, the things you choose to do everyday, where you get your water from. That’s all geography,” she said.

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