Avid and Intentional Learner
Over the course of my college career, intentionality was something that I had to learn. I grew up in a household that had too little time, too little money, and too many things to do. This resulted in my parents stepping in on my decisions on education, hobbies, and the like. This was to change the moment I stepped foot on university soil. It was slow, but steady. I slowly unraveled a map of who I want to be and where I want to go, and there's no looking back from here.
Community, Environment, Planning:
At the end of my second year, I applied to major in a program called CEP (Community, Environment, and Planning). This was the first major that I applied to and felt connected to. This is because it is the University of Washington's first student run major and put an intense emphasis on intentionality. CEP is about taking charge of your education and crafting where you want to go in life. The major regularly partakes in self-reflection, consensus voting, and enacting whatever changes we feel we need to happen.
CEP (Community, Environment, Planning) logo
Reflection and Application: In CEP there are frequent cycles of reflection on both the self and of the major as a whole. You are encouraged to think critically about what your goals were, what you ended up accomplishing, and why you got to where you did. When it comes to the major itself, there are several occasions where old policies and activities are discussed, workshopped, and then it is presented to the student body as a whole for a vote. We pass votes by consensus voting, which requires the agreement of every junior, senior, and staff. If there is anyone apposed, we go back and come up with something that everyone can agree on.
Scope of Competence: With such an active major and active peers, it's easy to slip into the habit of saying yes and yes and yes. Often I would realize my errors too late. In the major, we value freedom of choice and intentionality. Unfortunately this also means that students are free to choose too much or too little, giving them a mishmash of tasks rather than one that can perfectly match their capabilities. But even though this, we learn. Through this process of "trial, overwhelm, overcome" I have learned where the edges of my capabilities lie. I have also learned just how far I can stretch them before the balancing act gets to be dangerous.
Empowerment: CEP is run by the students. This means that all the policy is created by, workshopped by, and voted on by the students. This means all events, all opportunities, all fundraisers are student planned and executed. This means all applicants who want to join the major are reviewed and interviewed by the students that are currently in the program. Everything, save for signing paperwork and working on the budget for staff, is done by the students. This major really is out major and is here to do what we feel is necessary. Each and every individual student has the power to help or completely block any decisions due to our process of consensus. All of this is a huge responsibility, but it is also incredibly empowering.
Motivation: Within my two years in this program, there has been a lot of opportunity to take up responsibilities but there has also been a lot of opportunity to dodge them. Being apart of the works for a major in a university is tiring, constantly reflecting and improving is tiring, trying to do all of this while growing yourself and your academic goals is tiring. Everyone knows this, everyone understands. And yet they all still show up everyday, they all stay motivated and this is something that I have learned to keep at as well.
Other Perspectives: The range of people who are in this major is astounding. There are about thirty or so people in each class, meaning that we all have an exorbitant amount of time to get to know each other and our circumstances. The age range in the major currently is from eighteen to almost fifty. We have people who hail from all over the US and even all over the world. We have people whose families have been here for countless generations, we have international students who are here just to study, we have students from migrant families, and every situation in between. There are a lot of different circumstances between us and yet we all can and do get together to build a brighter future together. Even if we do disagree at times.
Facilitation: This program prides itself on educating students who will graduate knowing how to run meetings, work as a group, and be apart of a greater whole. This is achieved by having this major be run by students. All students will be given the opportunity to practice all of these skills by facilitating classes, major wide discussions, working on group projects or presentations, and by passing proposals by consensus voting. This has lead me to grow increasingly comfortable with taking a step back and facilitating conversations. I do my best to allow everyone to talk, to clear up misunderstandings, and to appeal to different communication styles.