Ben Parsons:  

Life After graduation, I took a year off to clear the fog. Our counselor at the time said I'd never make it in college, so I had to figure out what to do with myself. Good jobs were few and far between at the time so I said, "What the heck. Let's try WVU on for size!" During my years in Morgantown, I became a different person. As a member of the Forestry club, secretary for the Society of American Foresters and Woodsmen Team (Lumberjack Sports) Captain / Competitor, I found that I enjoyed taking on the role of a leader. However,in September of 1998, I experienced the 2nd biggest change of my life. I met the girl who would become my wife. Brigitte Kumbier, of Bel Air, MD, was a Forestry student at Virginia Tech. By the end of the semester, our relationship grew and Brigitte had transferred to WVU. We graduated in May of 2001 with our B.S. degrees in Forest Resource Management and moved to Blacksburg, VA, where I worked for Bartlett Tree Experts. I decided that job ripped so I began a research position with the Virginia Dept. of Forestry. During this time my wife earned her M.S. in Wood Science/Marketing. By summer of '03 we had moved to Montezuma, Georgia. I was the forester for Oak Crest Lumber, while Brigitte, began a carrer with Weyerhaeuser Corporation. For those of you who may not know, Weyerhaeuser is the Worlds largest producer of fores...Expand for more