My year-in-review is a response to the following prompt:
What specific experiences (honors or otherwise) in the past year have had the most impact on your personal, academic, or professional goals and life trajectory? Which future experiences will further encourage this growth? Please articulate specific academic and/or professional goals for the next year.
One year ago, I was on a co-op, as I am today. Last summer I worked at a real estate developer, and now I’m at a building science consultant for my double rotation. I thought an interesting way to answer this question would be to search for how I ended up in such a different place, and where I might go from here professionally and personally. I’m actually really enjoying not having too specific of a plan for the future, but I think I can try to look a year ahead. I love cities, walkability, urbanism, and density. I’ve never been in denial of this, but at certain points in my life I think I deny that I want this to be my career. The real estate developer I worked for works almost exclusively on industrial warehouses, and I think my first important experience was the job itself. I enjoyed a lot of the experience, but I felt at times that I was working on the opposite of the dense urban projects that I love so much.
This led me to search for a different co-op in the fall. I have always wanted to go somewhere out-of-state, so I made that my main objective and went from there. I ended up accepting a position at my current company in Oakland, California, another big experience. I felt empowered by how well the job search went after some much more deflating ones in the past (see my 2020-2021 year-in-review), and that win gave me a lot of confidence that I can really look at my career field, decide what I want to do, and go for it.
I didn’t totally know what to expect from “building science”, an unfamiliar term to most, even in the industry. So far it has been so much that it’s hard to describe, but I really enjoy the problem solving, and working in such a technical position where you’re really challenged to solve the difficult problems that come up when designing and constructing buildings. Living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area without a car has also had its challenges but been so rewarding and fun. I’ve always loved public transit, but I’ve come around to really like straight-up walking. I’m so proud of my 48,000-step daily record.
Anyways, back to the prompt; what are my goals for the next year because of all of this? I of course want to graduate, maintain my current GPA, and finish my honors experiences. I would like to be accepted to a graduate school in Europe to continue studying and experience a new place. I’m not 100% sure what I want to study, but a mix of what I’m doing now with historic preservation and of course the rich history and innovation of Europe sounds like an intriguing direction.
What specific experiences (honors or otherwise) in the past year have had the most impact on your personal, academic, or professional goals and life trajectory? Which future experiences will further encourage this growth? Please articulate specific academic and/or professional goals for the next year.
One year ago, I was on a co-op, as I am today. Last summer I worked at a real estate developer, and now I’m at a building science consultant for my double rotation. I thought an interesting way to answer this question would be to search for how I ended up in such a different place, and where I might go from here professionally and personally. I’m actually really enjoying not having too specific of a plan for the future, but I think I can try to look a year ahead. I love cities, walkability, urbanism, and density. I’ve never been in denial of this, but at certain points in my life I think I deny that I want this to be my career. The real estate developer I worked for works almost exclusively on industrial warehouses, and I think my first important experience was the job itself. I enjoyed a lot of the experience, but I felt at times that I was working on the opposite of the dense urban projects that I love so much.
This led me to search for a different co-op in the fall. I have always wanted to go somewhere out-of-state, so I made that my main objective and went from there. I ended up accepting a position at my current company in Oakland, California, another big experience. I felt empowered by how well the job search went after some much more deflating ones in the past (see my 2020-2021 year-in-review), and that win gave me a lot of confidence that I can really look at my career field, decide what I want to do, and go for it.
I didn’t totally know what to expect from “building science”, an unfamiliar term to most, even in the industry. So far it has been so much that it’s hard to describe, but I really enjoy the problem solving, and working in such a technical position where you’re really challenged to solve the difficult problems that come up when designing and constructing buildings. Living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area without a car has also had its challenges but been so rewarding and fun. I’ve always loved public transit, but I’ve come around to really like straight-up walking. I’m so proud of my 48,000-step daily record.
Anyways, back to the prompt; what are my goals for the next year because of all of this? I of course want to graduate, maintain my current GPA, and finish my honors experiences. I would like to be accepted to a graduate school in Europe to continue studying and experience a new place. I’m not 100% sure what I want to study, but a mix of what I’m doing now with historic preservation and of course the rich history and innovation of Europe sounds like an intriguing direction.