Educational History
University of Washington - BA in Community, Environment, and Planning
June 2019 - June 2021
Community, Environment, and Planning is an interdisciplinary degree offered at the University of Washington's College of the Built Environment. This program has a strong backbone of urban planning, however, it also offers the flexibility for those enrolled to focus on a specific area of study. This is why I chose this degree. I focused specifically on the Built Environment, as a whole. Therefore, I took classes in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning, Construction Management, and Real Estate.
San Diego City College - AA in Liberal Arts and Sciences
June 2018 - June 2019
After fulfilling my six year contract, I was honorably discharged from the Navy. The same day I got out of the Navy I started classes at San Diego City College to prepare myself to transfer to a four year University. During this time I was able to also acquire my AA.
Bellevue College - General Transfer Education
September 2009 - June 2011
After high school I attended Bellevue College. I was working towards pre-dentistry but changed my plans before getting too into the dental specific classes and joined the U.S. Navy to become a Rescue Swimmer.
Reflection
When I was in the Navy, I was inspired by the cities that I traveled to on deployment to find my way into the field of the built environment. In what capacity I didn't know yet, I just knew there were better ways to make buildings, infrastructure and cities and I wanted to be a part of that.
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Knowing that, when I found my way to UW after getting out of the Navy - I knew I needed to be in a program where I could learn the process of the built environment as a whole. I found community, environment and planning (CEP), in the college of the built environment. In this interdisciplinary degree I was able to focus on my goal by having the freedom to take courses in all of the disciplines the college had to offer: urban planning, construction management, architecture, landscape architecture and real estate.
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The courses I took all revolved around wanting to understand how the built environment all worked together, to get a more holistic understanding of the field. Therefore, when it came time to work on my final capstone project, I wanted to work on something that was cumulative, and reflected the things I had learned in the courses I had taken over my two years in CEP.
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I feel very fortunate for CEP, and having the opportunity to focus my efforts in a world I was interested in as a whole. I didn't want to pigeon hole myself into one discipline. Therefore, getting to choose my classes and find my way organically to a profession that I found the most rewarding was ideal. I've come out of this long journey of education having a holistic understanding of the built environment - a strong foundation for the next chapter in my life.
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