{"id":22270,"date":"2017-08-25T09:53:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T13:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=22270"},"modified":"2017-08-25T09:53:43","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T13:53:43","slug":"a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/","title":{"rendered":"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-22271\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901-299x399.jpg 299w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Melissa Gomez attended small private schools until fall 2000, when she found herself a freshman film major at one of the nation\u2019s largest universities.<\/p>\n<p>She came to the conclusion all of the students knew what they wanted out of life and she did not\u00a0yet. She chose to leave UCF, believing she was wasting her time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI dropped out because I couldn\u2019t focus,\u201d Gomez said.\u00a0\u201cI had goals and although I had no idea how to achieve them, I knew I had to do it full force or not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She\u00a0returned 12 years later with a new goal: <a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/\">Anthropology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost\u00a0archaeologists grew up watching Indiana Jones movies, documentaries\u00a0and probably various forensics shows,\u201d Gomez said.\u00a0\u201cI had no idea\u00a0what was real and what was not,\u00a0but I knew I had a deep-set interest in the past and discovering where we came from and what makes us tick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biology was her top pick of subjects, but she loved the adventure of digging\u00a0to find\u00a0artifacts and remains. It was during her sophomore year she discovered\u00a0the\u00a0marriage of two her loves in\u00a0bio-archaeology. Gomez specialized in the human body, specifically the skeleton,\u00a0but also has traveled to complete field work. As an undergraduate, she participated in archaeological digs in the Turks and Caicos Islands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough this lab work I can use\u00a0collagen from bone, skin, hair\u00a0and nails to identify anything diet or disease related,\u201d Gomez said.\u00a0\u201cI can even identify the location the remains may\u00a0have resided in as everything environmental leaves a trace within your cells.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-22272\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328-299x299.jpg 299w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328-144x144.jpg 144w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_6328.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>She\u2019s also won two awards for research she did on a species of rodent that is indigenous to the Caribbean. Through her\u00a0research\u00a0massive quantities of the rodent\u00a0were found\u00a0in an unexpected location. It led to questions of the rodent\u2019s domesticity in a pre-Columbian\u00a0Taino\u00a0Indian\u00a0world, which has\u00a0yet to be heard of. Through isotopic analyses Gomez proved the\u00a0distinct\u00a0possibility that\u00a0this\u00a0was in fact true.\u00a0Gomez was recognized for her work through the Research and Mentoring Program (RAMP).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a two-year commitment that any undergrad may apply for,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to a\u00a0work study fellowship. Should you be chosen you are then technically a UCF employee who\u00a0receives compensation for the hours you work on a project. It was through that I managed to win two Student Undergraduate Research Excellence\u00a0awards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gomez says students should try to be noticed. Part of her success her second time around at UCF was her involvement. Gomez wasn\u2019t afraid to sit in the front row and ask questions or get to know her professors during office hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want doors to open for you then you have to make sure people know that you\u2019re there,\u201d she said. \u201cYou may not know exactly why you are at college but you also never know where inspiration will hit and the more you do the more chances of finding yourself in the perfect place for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say Gomez has found her perfect place in the <a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/anthropology\/\">UCF Anthropology department<\/a>. She graduated with her bachelor\u2019s in May 2017 and is beginning her master\u2019s degree this fall. She\u2019s shown herself that she is capable of success and has achieved more than she thought\u00a0possible. Encouragement and knowledge of her peers and professors helped her through it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt UCF if you want something you will find a way to make it happen through dedication and hard\u00a0work,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can be noticed, you can prove yourself and there is no such thing as \u2018too late\u2019 as I hope to\u00a0attain my Ph.D. by the age of 40.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gomez is well on her way, and hopes to\u00a0work with volunteer groups to help identify remains from\u00a0natural disasters, genocides,\u00a0or war crimes. She\u2019s confident she\u00a0can\u00a0bring her skills to any destination and be successful. She says students don\u2019t need to have it all figured out \u2013 just be available to everything UCF has to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Melissa Gomez attended small private schools until fall 2000, when she found herself a freshman film major at one of the nation\u2019s largest universities. She came to the conclusion all of the students knew what they wanted out of life and she did not\u00a0yet. She chose to leave UCF, believing she was wasting her time. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":22271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,32,38,40,28,29],"tags":[5003,5005,5002,5004,3475],"class_list":["post-22270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-anthropology","category-breaking-news","category-graduate-student-news","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-melissa-gomez","tag-ramp","tag-research-and-mentoring-program","tag-student-undergraduate-research-excellence","tag-ucf-anthropology-department"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success for UCF Anthropology Alumna<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success for UCF Anthropology Alumna\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Melissa Gomez attended small private schools until fall 2000, when she found herself a freshman film major at one of the nation\u2019s largest universities. She came to the conclusion all of the students knew what they wanted out of life and she did not\u00a0yet. She chose to leave UCF, believing she was wasting her time. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-25T13:53:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Hurtado\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Hurtado\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allison Hurtado\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b\"},\"headline\":\"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-25T13:53:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":681,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Melissa Gomez\",\"RAMP\",\"Research and Mentoring Program\",\"Student Undergraduate Research Excellence\",\"UCF Anthropology Department\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni News\",\"Anthropology\",\"COS News\",\"Graduate Student News\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/\",\"name\":\"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success for UCF Anthropology Alumna\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-25T13:53:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"A female graduate in anthropology, dressed in a black cap and gown, wearing honors cords, smiling and holding her diploma during a graduation ceremony.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b\",\"name\":\"Allison Hurtado\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Allison Hurtado\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success for UCF Anthropology Alumna","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success for UCF Anthropology Alumna","og_description":"Melissa Gomez attended small private schools until fall 2000, when she found herself a freshman film major at one of the nation\u2019s largest universities. She came to the conclusion all of the students knew what they wanted out of life and she did not\u00a0yet. She chose to leave UCF, believing she was wasting her time. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2017-08-25T13:53:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Allison Hurtado","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allison Hurtado","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/"},"author":{"name":"Allison Hurtado","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b"},"headline":"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success","datePublished":"2017-08-25T13:53:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/"},"wordCount":681,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg","keywords":["Melissa Gomez","RAMP","Research and Mentoring Program","Student Undergraduate Research Excellence","UCF Anthropology Department"],"articleSection":["Alumni News","Anthropology","COS News","Graduate Student News","Top News","UCF News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/","name":"A 12-Year Delay Leads to Success for UCF Anthropology Alumna","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-25T13:53:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/a-12-year-delay-leads-to-success\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/08\/IMG_0032-e1503668734901.jpg","width":1440,"height":1920,"caption":"A female graduate in anthropology, dressed in a black cap and gown, wearing honors cords, smiling and holding her diploma during a graduation ceremony."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8bb1934f9edc028f4b7d6f410d4ed16b","name":"Allison Hurtado","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/941d9de90fb02a8a413287bc0397f3d905623389ca322af7b963e223122b6242?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Allison Hurtado"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}