SHREVEPORT – The paths of sisters Natalia and Camila Muller have often crossed throughout their lives.
Natalia, who is three years older, blazed an academic path in biological sciences, earning a bachelor’s degree at LSUS with a forensic sciences concentration in 2017.
Younger sister Camila followed that path, earning the same degree in 2019.
But Natalia heeded her yearning for history, going back to complete a bachelor’s degree in the subject before finishing her masters of liberal arts in history.
Camila stuck with the sciences, finishing her masters degree in field and organismal biology.
The sisters’ academic paths crossed again Friday as both walked across the same graduation stage with different degrees in hand.
“It kind of just happened – it wasn’t anything that we planned,” Camila said. “It means the world to me to graduate together.
“We’ve always been best friends with each other through thick and thin. To be side by side with my sister, both of us with master’s degrees, it’s a blessing.”
Natalia’s interest in history piqued at age 10 when she learned about a Civil War soldier named Edwin Francis Jemison.
The 16-year-old’s portrait in uniform is one of the more well-known Civil War images because of Jemison’s boyish appearance. The Monroe resident served in the 2nd Louisiana Infantry Regiment as one of the war’s earliest volunteers and died in battle one year later.
That became the subject of Natalia’s masters thesis, investigating the circumstances around Edwin’s death and looking into his family history.
“It’s a story of extreme tragedy, and Edwin’s face symbolizes a lost generation in a country that paid the price of war,” Natalia said. “I figured out that my passion was history, and history is a calling for me.
“I’ve always loved the various backstories and the history of a certain place and a certain time.”
Camila supported Natalia through the turmoil of changing academic paths, and Natalia returned the favor when Camila faced her own challenges in the master’s program.
Camila’s master’s thesis centered around an invasive species of tree called the Chinese tallow. The thesis eventually targeted whether the tree’s leaves had insecticidal properties, and Camila was using caterpillars to test that theory.
Her caterpillars were unexpectedly dying without properly studying the leaves’ intended effects, which delayed the project’s completion.
The tree’s leaves do have insecticidal properties, and chemicals can be extracted for a more natural insecticide.
“We’ve been very supportive of each other,” Camila said.
So how do a pair of sisters celebrate earning their master’s degrees on the same day?
“We had a mass at Christ the King, a Thanksgiving Mass, thanking God for helping us through all these trials,” said Camila of the church that’s around the corner from their alma mater Byrd High School. “We thank God for helping us through all these trials.”
Camila and Natalia had plenty of praise for their major professors – Dr. Beverly Burden (biology) and Dr. Gary Joiner (history) – for guiding their projects and the overall support offered.
Both sisters want to stay in the Shreveport area to begin their careers, but they’ll follow wherever their career paths will lead them.
And if those paths do diverge, the relationship strengthened during these times will help bridge the geographic gap.
“I still want to work in a lab at some time in the future, but as I was working as a graduate assistant, I fell in love with the students and the joy that teaching biology gives me,” Camila said. “I want to be a college professor and pursue a (doctorate) degree at some time in the future.”
Natalia wants to work as a curator in a museum or in a history department on a college campus.
