AUTUMN QUARTER
CEP 400 GOVERNANCE
CEP REQUIRED COURSE
My first quarter of governance was very helpful for me in terms of learning how the major runs and what I need to do for the major. I joined the committee communications, and learned how to use new programs in the Adobe Suitte, and improved my skill in programs I already knew like Photoshop.
CEP 300 RETREAT
CEP REQUIRED COURSE
My first retreat with CEP taught me a lot about the major and the people that are in it. I believe that this was a great opportunity to learn more about the people in the CEP community, and gain insight into what experiences shaped their views on different opinions.
CEP 301 THE IDEA OF COMMUNITY
CEP CORE COURSE
Community is something that we are constantly surrounded by, and this class gave me insight into why our communities are shaped like they are. Learning about some of the most influential philosophers for modern society, and what their ideal communities were, was very interesting and helped me come up with ideas for what I want to see in communities I am a part of.
FISH 323 MANAGEMENT OF AQUATIC RESOURCES
MARINE BIOLOGY MINOR REQUIREMENT, METHODS CREDIT
This class fills one of the requirements for my marine biology minor. I chose this class because it focused on how fisheries are managed and how different strategies can have different impacts on the fish populations, fishery, and various stakeholders. It was interesting to learn how fisheries managers try and balance the interests of various stakeholders, and how they try and make fisheries sustainable.
ESRM 325 ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS OF PLANTS
METHODS COURSE
This class focuses on the different ways that plants can be used to save the environment. It looked at how plants can be used to clean up contaminated sites, how they can be used to create energy, and how they can help sequester carbon. I had never learned about many of the things discussed in this class and found it fascinating the ways that plants can be used to help the environment. I was particularly interested in how they can be used as riparian buffers to protect waterways, and how they can be used to prevent toxins from leaking into bodies of water.
WINTER QUARTER
CEP 400 GOVERNANCE
This quarter in governance I continued to be part of the communications committee. Our goal for the quarter was to help the Outreach & Admissions committee market the major to prospective students. We worked on developing skills in InDesign and WordPress this quarter, and we finish getting the new CEP website up and running. My main responsibility this quarter was to work on posters for the Open House that the Outreach & Admissions Committee put on. View the PDFs of the posters here.
CEP 302 ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE
This class teaches about environmental crises and how societies respond to them. This class is going to be particularly important to my career goals, because no real change can be made without the participation of the local communities, and this class explored how different communities respond to different crises and management responses to them. In this class I looked in depth into two environmental planning issues, The Town of Ocean Isle Beach’s shoreline protection environmental impact assessment and gasworks park remediation from a coal gasification plant.
OCEAN 454 HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEMS: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY VIEW
MARINE BIOLOGY MINOR REQUIREMENT
This class satisfies a required elective credit for my marine biology minor. I was extremely excited to take this class, because it was very similar to an Oceans class I had already taken at the 100 level and really enjoyed. This class went more in depth about how hydrothermal systems work, from the tectonics that influences them to the biological processes. Hydrothermal systems are a relatively recent discovery in marine studies, and the implications of what has been found are not yet fully understood. Extremophiles and the geological processes involved in making hydrothermal systems are still being researched and discovered, which made this class particularly relevant to my interest in marine biology.
BIOLOGY 200 INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY II
Biology 200 is the second course in the introductory biology class. I took this course because while it is not required for my minor, it is usually a requirement for graduate school to complete the introductory biology series. This course taught me more about how biologists do research, as well as getting into more detail about biological processes, particularly animal development and cell structure and function. This class will be extremely helpful for me to have taken when I go to Friday Harbor Labs this summer, and for any fieldwork I do in the future. It will be a good foundation for me to expand my knowledge of biology from.
Q SCI 482 STATISTICAL INFERENCE IN APPLIED RESEARCH I: HYPOTHESIS TESTING & ESTIMATION FOR ECOLOGISTS & RESOURCE MANAGERS
METHODS CREDIT
This class is one of the required classes for the minor in quantitative science that I am planning on pursuing. It is the first course in a two part series on statistical inference. In this class I learned more about experimental design, data analysis using statistics, and how these methods can be applied to biological problems. This class gave me valuable information on how to analyze data for any research I do in the future, and for biological work in particular. I plan to use the methods I learn from this course to analyze data for my internship at Magnusen Park, in Friday Harbor labs during the summer of 2017, as well as in my future career.
SPRING QUARTER
CEP 400 GOVERNANCE
This quarter in governance I plan to continue working in the communications committee. This quarter most of our projects will be focused on graduation for the seniors. I am one of two points for graduation in the communications committee. This means that my co-point and I are in charge with communicating with people in other committees about what needs to happen for graduation, and are in charge of producing most of the materials for graduation. We will still be having some workshops on different programs like InDesign and WordPress, but for the most part we already have a general understanding of these programs. Most of our projects will be posters, invitations, programs, and other materials for graduation, but there will also be maintenance of the website and other projects to work on.
CEP 300 RETREAT
This will be my first spring retreat, and I am excited to get together with everyone and plan for next year and reflect on this past year. This retreat is important for reflecting on how things within the major are run and deciding if there are any changes or improvements we need to make for future years.
CEP 303 SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES
This course will provide me with a foundational knowledge of how communities and social structures work. From this foundation I can decide how to interact with different communities in different situations. This skill will be crucial when working on any project that requires community support or engagement.
Q SCI 483 STATISTICAL INFERENCE IN APPLIED RESEARCH II:
REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR ECOLOGISTS & RESOURCE MANAGERS
METHODS CREDIT
This is the second course in a two course series that I need for my prospective minor in Q Sci. This course is an expansion of the ideas and methods learned in Q SCI 482 that I took in the winter of 2017. This course introduces new methods of analysis, and will help me solidify the concepts that I learned in the last class. The combined knowledge I gain from this series will be extremely useful for me when I am doing fieldwork in biology.
CEP 473 DIGITAL DESIGN PRACTICUM
METHODS CREDIT
This class teaches the programs Photoshop, InDesign, Sketchup, and GIS. I want to take this course to polish off my understanding of some of these programs and to learn how to use some of the programs that I have not worked with before. I am excited to take this course, because it will tie all of the graphic design and computer skills I have learned through communications and my other courses together. In my letter of introduction I discussed how I continue to love art and enjoy creating things, and this class will help me continue this, and provide methods for me to continue doing art in the professional world.