Tom Mello
![Land steward coordinator Tom Mello helps with the Big Chico Creek Watershed Tour on April 14.](https://today.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TomMello_BigChicoCreekWatershedTour_JB_023-768x513.jpg )
Putting Himself on the Map: A Nontraditional Student Finds His Place
Tom Mello couldn’t imagine himself as a college student, but after the Great Recession left him without a job and struggling as a single parent, the need for an education morphed into a passion for the physical geography major.