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About Me.

Howdy!

My name is James Semper. I am happy to share a small piece of my story with all of you.

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Educational History

I grew up in the small town of Yorktown, Texas where I graduated 2nd of my class in 2014. I was accepted to attend Texas A&M University in College Station as Class of 2018. My declared major was chemistry. After a year, I declared minors in mathematics and horticulture. I eventually swapped to a double major in chemistry and horticulture but dropped the mathematics minor. I needed two more math courses for that minor and they didn't fit in my schedule. By December of 2018, I graduated with a BS in both fields.

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Work History

Over the years, I had a handful of jobs. I worked as a ranch hand for a few months. I worked at a flower shop on and off for a few years. I worked in greenhouses as a student worker. In one case, I was maintaining floral crops. In another, I was cross-breeding peppers and tomatoes and collecting their seeds. And yet another student worker position, I was a mentor for chemistry majors.

I worked in a research laboratory where I purified protein from genetically modified E. coli to produce crystals for X-ray crystallography. I worked in another research laboratory where I grew onions treated with metallic nanoparticles and measured differences in their growth characteristics and metabolites using LCMS.

From 2019 to present, I worked with the Texas Department of Agriculture as an analytical chemist. My job is to quantitate pesticide residues in food crops for USDA and various substrates for TDA through federal and state programs, respectively.

Through all of these years, one thing was very constant. I worked as a tutor. It started around 2012 and continued to this day. I loved helping other students succeed. I loved learning new material and refreshing old material. I loved the drive that came with seeing faces light up as a subject started making sense. I couldn't turn a student away. If their finances took a turn, I charged less and often for free. If they couldn't catch up and had to retake the course, I stayed by their side and fed them information during their summer break. If they were crying over a test they were cramming for, I would stay up half the night with them even when I had Corps or work the next morning. Nothing made me happier than this line of work.

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Extracurricular

I will post several pictures below for extracurricular activities to not drag on with more paragraphs. Enjoy!

 

And thank you for reading!!

 

James Semper

I spent 4 years as a member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band in A Battery. The photo with a saber was taken after a wedding proposal where I was part of the saber arch. The photo in front of a trailer is rather special as this was one of my many trips home. I was playing Taps for Memorial Day in Yorktown, TX.

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I was the president of Texas A&M's floral design club, SAIFD. I was fortunate enough to attend the national convention for AIFD in Seattle several years ago. I used to donate copious amounts of flowers to the local nursing homes. I loved how flowers made people feel and that drove me to try to learn more. Unfortunately, I never had a formal floral design class. I know a plethora of floral designers and yet I still cannot design anything that isn't simple. It's a shame, but I learned quite a bit along the way and it was a lot of fun.​

In my last year, I joined Aggieland Mariachi. Had a blast with the group. They were sooooo much better than I was, but I loved the music and I loved trying to learn new things. We attended several events. One of which was a Christmas performance for KBTX, the local news station. Might not be national like the time I saw myself on ESPN, but I'll take it. 😬

And today, I am just enjoying my time with my girls (2 dogs and 1 cat) at home. They love meeting people. I will absolutely set up a time if you want to see them.

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