College Experience Reflection
I transitioned out of the Army in 2013 and moved to Seattle. At that time I knew I wanted to have a career in the environmental field and wanted that career to place in the Seattle area. It was a big transitional period for me. I was leaving a 7 year career that had paid my bills and taught me a lot about who I was and what I was capable of. During the summer of 2013 I started looking for places to live and considering what school I should attend to begin my college career. I knew that I ultimately wanted to attend the University of Washington (UW) so I looked for apartments around the university district and found a great two-bedroom place on the corner of NE Roosevelt & Ravenna Blvd. I moved in with another Army veteran that I had deployed with and known from Joint Base Lewis-McChord here in Washington State.
It was now time to decide where to start college. I knew that my GPA from my previous college experience wasn't going to be good enough to get me into UW. Through some research, I found that North Seattle College (NSC) was a bigger school that would work well for me to attain an associates degree. Additionally, I got a job in the NSC Veteran's Affairs Office to work under Greg Tessensohn as a workstudy. This job involved helping student-veterans to get signed up for classes, integrate into the academic environment, get their funding from the VA, answer e-mails, and do as much as we can to help them succeed in their classes. I worked in this office for one and a half years as I went to school at NSC. Regarding my academics, I decided to pursue an associate of science degree because many environmental jobs involve science and I wanted to try and be an environmental engineer. I took an introductory engineering class and enjoyed it. As time went on I started taking more and more advanced math and science courses. I found myself struggling and my GPA was beginning to suffer. I tried and tried to keep on the environmental engineering path but after a few quarters of struggling I decided it was not for me. At this point, I began looking at other careers that involved environmental stewardship. I eventually came across the field of urban planning that is more social arts than science-related which also can be involved in environmental issues. Aspects of particular interest were environmental policy, urban green space, and environmental restoration projects.
I earned my associate of arts degree from North Seattle College in the summer of 2015. I then applied to the UW and was accepted. After looking through some different departments and courses offered I found one particular department that interested me. This department was Community, Environment, and Planning (CEP). I took the CEP 200 Intro to urban planning course taught by Chris Campbell who is the CEP Chair. This class was very engaging and I found the subject-matter very interesting and relevant. We learned basics about urban planning, social equity, sustainability, and many other topics important in today's world. I was sold on CEP as my desired major. I applied in the spring quarter of 2016 and was accepted to be part of the CEP major's class of 2018. CEP also allows students to pursue other academic interests so I decided to get a minor in Environmental Science and Resource Management (ESRM). CEP has been a good major for me. I have a strong interest in philosophy and have learned some of the history of western political philosophy along with historical ethics writings. We also learned some fundamentals of urban planning in the CEP 303 course and got to work on a Tacoma Livable City Year project in CEP 460. The senior project allowed me to pick a project that am interested in, work on it for an academic school year, write a report on it, and present my work to an audience and panel of reviewers during Senior Project Night. Minoring in ESRM has allowed me to take some very interesting courses, as well. I have learned some specifics about sustainability and about many important environmental issues. My UW experience has been a good mix of learning theory, working on projects, and becoming part of the CEP community.
Transitioning back into the work force will be an exciting yet scary challenge but I am ready. From the beginning I've wanted to contribute to environmental stewardship in Seattle and now I have that chance. I have accepted a position with the King County Park Department and will begin in July 2018. I look forward to working hard and proving myself to peers and supervisors alike. My college experience has helped to make me more knowledgeable and qualified to help in environmental restoration, environmental policy, and in working with urban green space projects.
I transitioned out of the Army in 2013 and moved to Seattle. At that time I knew I wanted to have a career in the environmental field and wanted that career to place in the Seattle area. It was a big transitional period for me. I was leaving a 7 year career that had paid my bills and taught me a lot about who I was and what I was capable of. During the summer of 2013 I started looking for places to live and considering what school I should attend to begin my college career. I knew that I ultimately wanted to attend the University of Washington (UW) so I looked for apartments around the university district and found a great two-bedroom place on the corner of NE Roosevelt & Ravenna Blvd. I moved in with another Army veteran that I had deployed with and known from Joint Base Lewis-McChord here in Washington State.
It was now time to decide where to start college. I knew that my GPA from my previous college experience wasn't going to be good enough to get me into UW. Through some research, I found that North Seattle College (NSC) was a bigger school that would work well for me to attain an associates degree. Additionally, I got a job in the NSC Veteran's Affairs Office to work under Greg Tessensohn as a workstudy. This job involved helping student-veterans to get signed up for classes, integrate into the academic environment, get their funding from the VA, answer e-mails, and do as much as we can to help them succeed in their classes. I worked in this office for one and a half years as I went to school at NSC. Regarding my academics, I decided to pursue an associate of science degree because many environmental jobs involve science and I wanted to try and be an environmental engineer. I took an introductory engineering class and enjoyed it. As time went on I started taking more and more advanced math and science courses. I found myself struggling and my GPA was beginning to suffer. I tried and tried to keep on the environmental engineering path but after a few quarters of struggling I decided it was not for me. At this point, I began looking at other careers that involved environmental stewardship. I eventually came across the field of urban planning that is more social arts than science-related which also can be involved in environmental issues. Aspects of particular interest were environmental policy, urban green space, and environmental restoration projects.
I earned my associate of arts degree from North Seattle College in the summer of 2015. I then applied to the UW and was accepted. After looking through some different departments and courses offered I found one particular department that interested me. This department was Community, Environment, and Planning (CEP). I took the CEP 200 Intro to urban planning course taught by Chris Campbell who is the CEP Chair. This class was very engaging and I found the subject-matter very interesting and relevant. We learned basics about urban planning, social equity, sustainability, and many other topics important in today's world. I was sold on CEP as my desired major. I applied in the spring quarter of 2016 and was accepted to be part of the CEP major's class of 2018. CEP also allows students to pursue other academic interests so I decided to get a minor in Environmental Science and Resource Management (ESRM). CEP has been a good major for me. I have a strong interest in philosophy and have learned some of the history of western political philosophy along with historical ethics writings. We also learned some fundamentals of urban planning in the CEP 303 course and got to work on a Tacoma Livable City Year project in CEP 460. The senior project allowed me to pick a project that am interested in, work on it for an academic school year, write a report on it, and present my work to an audience and panel of reviewers during Senior Project Night. Minoring in ESRM has allowed me to take some very interesting courses, as well. I have learned some specifics about sustainability and about many important environmental issues. My UW experience has been a good mix of learning theory, working on projects, and becoming part of the CEP community.
Transitioning back into the work force will be an exciting yet scary challenge but I am ready. From the beginning I've wanted to contribute to environmental stewardship in Seattle and now I have that chance. I have accepted a position with the King County Park Department and will begin in July 2018. I look forward to working hard and proving myself to peers and supervisors alike. My college experience has helped to make me more knowledgeable and qualified to help in environmental restoration, environmental policy, and in working with urban green space projects.