Geology Rocks
While most girls grow up playing with Barbies or stuffed animals, Chesney Petkovsek spent her childhood collecting rocks, which is a hobby that has since paid off.
“I used to take rocks home from the playground and stuff them in my shoes,” Petkovsek said. “Everytime I got home it was like the daily dumping of my shoes on the porch. My favorite Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten was a rock tumbler when I was little too. I’ve just always thought rocks were so cool and so beautiful, I knew I had to try and incorporate them into my future.”
Petkovsek, originally from Dallas, is now a senior at the University of Mississippi majoring in geology. She has succeeded in merging her passion into a profession, which is a struggle for most college students to do so successfully. She works as an undergraduate research assistant for crystallography at Ole Miss and also works at the gem shows hosted by the University. Apart from professional work, she also created a company where she makes and sells jewelry showcasing crystals and gems. She named her company Spectrum Collective.
“It just kind of started with liking rocks on the playground, to making jewelry and then it just kind of elevated each year. I started taking geology classes and working on my bachelor’s degree and then started doing crystallography research,” she said. “It just kept getting a little harder and a little more in depth each year. It all just kind off plays of each other.”
Petkovsek entered Ole Miss as a business major, unsure of how she could apply her love of rocks to earning a degree. After taking introductory geology classes for the science requirements for her business major, she realized she needed to change majors altogether.
“I reached the 300 level classes in geology when I was still technically a business major,” she said. “I realized I was way more interested in these science credits I was doing for business than business itself. So I switched my major during my sophomore year.”
Since switching majors, Petkovsek has worked gem shows on campus and continues to excel as an undergraduate research assistant. Her research consists of finding the direct atomic structure of single crystals. She works with a lab group that consists of PhD students, graduate students and only one other undergraduate.
“I’m a nerd,” she said. “I work at these gem shows which I’m pretty sure no one at Ole Miss even knows about, besides other geology nerds like me. And I love being in my lab. It’s in the basement of Coulter, all secluded. I wear lab gloves and goggles and everything. It’s so cool.”
As if studying and working in the field of geology and rocks were not enough, Petkovsek also runs the successful company, Spectrum Collective that she started when she was a freshman in college. She creates hand-made wire-wrapped or soldered jewelry featuring unique stones that she buys herself.
Petkovsek travels to mineral shows that are held across the country each year to purchase gems. She talks to vendors to learn more about the rocks and minerals. Being in Oxford, she travels to the show in Jackson, Mississippi yearly.
“I was taking a minerology class at Ole Miss and then I would also be buying all these gems on the weekends to make jewelry with them. That’s when it all hit me. I was like wow, I love this. These go together and I love this,” she said. “Everything I was doing started meshing and feeding off of each other.”
Petkovsek’s mother, Tawn Harrison, supports her daughter and suspects that most of the money she gives her daughter for allowance goes to buying rocks. Harrison works in engineering and oil and gas in Fort Worth, Texas and has helped Petkovsek network within the field of geology.
“Geology and rocks are what interest Chesney, so she puts everything she has into that,” Harrison said via phone. “She is professional and works hard but also has found a creative outlet with rocks, her jewelry company.”
Since its creation in 2011, Spectrum Collective has grown and established a strong customer base. Petkovsek posts pictures of her merchandise on Facebook, Instagram and Etsy accounts, where customers then select the piece that they would like to purchase. Spectrum Collective gained enough success that by 2012, an article was featured in the Dallas Morning News showcasing the company and Petkovsek’s accomplishments. The article was the front page of the Arts and Life section.
“Making jewelry is this whole process. I’ll buy the gems and then over the course of a weekend I’ll get out all my equipment and whip out like four rings and a necklace,” she said. “It’s gotten bad though, I spend all this time making these pieces that I get too attached and hate to sell them. I just made this awesome ring for my cousin and found myself trying to talk her out of taking it because I liked it so much.”
Petkovsek’s success in incorporating her passion into her work has also inspired others to seek to do the same.
“Chesney has integrated her passion and business together and made this perfect combination,” said Chloe Wilson, a senior integrated marketing and communications student at Ole Miss. Wilson also attended high school with Petkovsek at Highland Park High School in Dallas.
“She’s found a way to be creative and corporate with what she loves to do. It’s inspiring,” Wilson said.
Petkovsek dreams of working in the oil and gas field upon graduation while also continuing to buy gems and make jewelry. She is an example of a student turning her passion into a means of success, and encourages her fellow students to try and do the same.
“Just take every opportunity that you can. When you meet someone new, tell them what you want to do in life so that they will think of your name if they hear of someone hiring in that area,” she said. “It sounds cliché and hippie-ish but just find what you love and make it your job. That’s what I did and it’s what I will keep doing.”
