FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska - The first time Kelly Snyder went geo-caching with her friends she came home a bit worse for the wear. "I think I was the only one who wasn't bleeding," she said about the adventure which had her and her friends up on Birch Hill looking for buried treasure, with nothing but a GPS coordinate to go on, and returning a bit banged up from their time in the woods.

"It's a lot of fun," said Snyder about geo-caching, which is a high-tech treasure-hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. She and her friends have a goal of finding 100 caches before she leaves Fort Wainwright in the middle of June.

Snyder is the daughter of Laura and Col. Michael Snyder, US Army Alaska. She will be returning to the Lower 48 with her parents and brother as part of a PCS move.

Snyder has been here for four years. "I liked Alaska, but I think four years is enough. I am excited to be moving on."

Snyder is moving on in many ways. Not only is she leaving Interior Alaska to move to Boston, she is moving on to the next stage of her educational career. She will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall and plans to study electrical engineering and computer science.

She said she would like to use her knowledge to contribute in some way to finding alternative energy solutions and improving computers.

She graduated a few weeks ago from Lathrop High School as the valedictorian. Being valedictorian "was nice. I'm happy. It was never a big goal of mine, I just tried to get good grades," she said. She said it will look good on her resume, but probably won't make much difference in her life 10 years from now. She has been told by students who attend MIT that almost everyone there was the valedictorian of their class.

She chose MIT after attending a summer program there last year because "it was the best fit for me, since I wanted to go into engineering."

Snyder may take advantage of the short time before school starts to catch up on her reading, one of her favorite pastimes. "I alternate between 'chick lit' books and actual legitimate literature. I read anything that looks interesting to me." She said her favorite authors are Jane Austen and Margaret Atwood. She had never read anything by Atwood until this past year when she had to do an author project for English. She read "The Handmaid's Tale" first and now has read seven of Atwood's books.

Austen is one of the people in history she would like the opportunity to have dinner with. She also would like to meet Albert Einstein. "He seems like he would be a very interesting person, a genius obviously, but also off the wall," she said. And "FDR, who dealt with some of the biggest crises in history, I always liked reading about him." President Barack Obama completed her list.

When asked who inspires her, it was no one famous, but those closest to her who came to mind. "My parents. My mom especially. She is the one who has been there for me my entire life. Both of my parents work so hard to get what they want and I feel like they have instilled good values in me. I don't necessarily want the same things in life that they do, but I want to work as hard as they do and be as content as they are. The lifestyle that we have has inspired me to work towards that."

Snyder describes herself as "responsible," the "mother" of her group of friends. "I like to have fun, but I generally tend to think through my actions before I jump in, which is something I got from my mother, which is good."

She says that she is "open minded, but I have good values. I am willing to try and accept new things." She also admits to being shy, self-conscious and said she lacks confidence. "People think I am all put together, but I second-guess everything" she said. "I wish I were a little more outgoing."

She would like to be remembered as "someone who is nice and nice to have around." Many people in Fairbanks will surely remember her just that way.