Brandi

Garcia Yanez Riddle

CEP Individual Study Plan

2014-2016


































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Table of Contents
Pages
3 - CEP Course Map
4 Letter of Introduction
5 Autumn Quarter 2014
6 Autumn Quarter continued
7 Winter Quarter 2015
8 Winter Quarter Backup
9 Spring Quarter 2015
10 Spring Quarter continued
11 Summer Quarter 2015
12 Autumn Quarter 2015
13 Winter Quarter 2016
14 Winter Quarter continued
15 Spring Quarter 2016
16 Spring Quarter continued.
17 Summer Quarter 2016
18 Explanation of Internships Plans
19 Explanation of Extracurricular
20 Explanation of Senior Project










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Brandi Yaez-Riddle

S#: 1427781

Last Updated Spring 2016

Letter of Introduction

I came to CEP with more wide-eyed enthusiasm than I thought a 26 year old should be able to
muster. Given my academic and personal history, I thought I had mucked my future up thoroughly. I
graduated high school in 2006, with one unsuccessful run through college, a baby and no home; a career
and a happy future were distant dreams. I was a failure.
I ended up in Oklahoma, under the roof of my (now) grandmother-in-law. In exchange for a
place to live, I worked. For a year and a half I worked until finally it dawned on me that I was becoming
someone better than I could have hoped. I had routine, responsibilities outside of my child, and it got to
the point I didnt need to be asked to do things. I just worked and became satisfied with what I
accomplished. But, I felt the pull back to a home of my own, back to the city. I just wished I could
somehow take the farm with me.
There came a day in 2009, my husband called and told me the paperwork that allows me to accompany
him overseas was finally approved and from there I prepared myself to move to South Korea. Everyone
said to be prepared for culture shock. What I found instead was a place I could have very well called
home. The culture, look and feel of the country reminded me of visiting my great grandmother in
Mexico. She used to have a lemon tree growing in the patio of her home in Mexico City. But in Korea,
people grew whole rows of peppers, cabbages and roots in lots next to their suburban homes. And
selling those goods was only a bus or train ride away. I was awed and angered at once. I was envious of
the existence, efficiency and capacity of the transit systems, while states in one of the supposed
wealthiest nations of the western hemisphere couldnt get you to a proper grocery store without a
personal vehicle. I wanted that. For everyone in my family that ever struggled, for everyone that ever
saw the grind the working class endured to get to the necessary resources to live decently, for my
children and their children, I wanted that.
Fast-forward 3 years, 2 states and an associates degree and youll find me here. At the UW, in a
major that is giving me the opportunity to flex the skills and knowledge Ive gained. I am able to branch
out further, reach higher and dig in deeper to prepare for a career that will allow me to help create
change Im passionate about. The next two years will be filled with as many hands on, technically
oriented courses that I can find. I have courses that cover GIS, to give me the understanding needed to
solve real world problems for all types of geographies or situations. Grant writing and digital media
courses I can use to develop my ability to inspire confidence and understanding of a project. Nutritional
courses that discuss problems of food security and sustainability will help me look for local level
solutions to problems. And courses on public policy and analysis of environmental, sustainability, food,
transit and housing issues so that I may better follow, comprehend and advocate for those that have
neither the time nor ability to do so.
I want to be as prepared as possible for actual processes and situations I may encounter in any
job I may be interested in. But mostly, I hope to one day work for any organization that seeks to provide
for the health and wellbeing of communities by rethinking and improving, neighborhood design, transit
availability and infrastructure, and widening access to fresh, local food in non-agricultural zones while
simultaneously improving the health of the land we live on and resources we use. I would enjoy regional
or local policy development, zoning work or more hands on work in mapping and analysis, active
transportation coordination or working with community resources like urban farms, permaculture, depaving etc. I just want to do what I can to help give back.





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Autumn 2014
CEP 300 CEP Retreat (1)

Focuses on planning analysis assessment and development of the major. Opportunities for
community building and all-major policy deliberation and decisions. Workshops for skill building in
consensus, facilitation, and for major-specific activities such as developing individual study plans and
study abroad experiences.
The focus of this course is on team building, facilitation and planning and creating goals for the
major. As individuals the retreat was a great time for me to build more confidence in public speaking,
and developing my delegation and planning abilities. I also get chances to reflect on my abilities to reach
milestones we set for ourselves so the ability to follow through with decisions and complete tasks is set
or measured here.

CEP 301 - The Idea of Community

Theories of community and communal rights and responsibilities. Experience building a
learning community within major. Explores struggles for community in every sector of life

Through a series of readings of influential authors and philosophers throughout history we
analyze texts for the definitions of citizens, communities, freedom and equality and interpret them
through the lens of past perspective or modern day events and problems. Large group discussion is
common and the ability to hold civil discourse and remain respectful of peers and superiors is an ability I
was able to hone. Facilitation, lesson outlining and public speaking are emphasized and are developed
for use in similar situations in advanced courses or the work place.

CEP 400 - Governance Practicum

Emphasizes personal and collective leadership, democratic decision making, and learning
through direct action and reflection. Explores and develops students' personal skills as doers and
leaders, while also learning how to form and function as effective groups.
The governance Practicum is a way for the major to review and create plans or tasks or to
present information to the group over a variety of subjects and interests. The ability to articulate the
main points of an event, opportunity, idea or problem is a large part of forum and governance and
something I will master by the end of the series. Committees are the other part of governance that
involves working closely in smaller groups and taking on individual tasks with little input or direction. I
have learned when to recognize that I need to be a self-starter in order to successfully complete certain
projects and when to defer to others.

GEOG 360 Principles of GIS Mapping (5) M

Origins, development, and methods of cartographic mapping. Principles of data representation
and map design for thematic mapping and spatial analysis. Introduction to principles of geographic
information systems. Not available for credit to students who have completed
In this GIS course I had a fast paced review of introductory elements and operations in ArcMap.
The ability to manipulate vector data was the most empathized and through each lab I was able to
master the basic overlay operations (clips, unions, intersects etc.) and focus on map design and
symbolization. The course culminated in an end of quarter research project where a small group and I
created political boundaries out of watersheds and proposed ideal placement of walkable zones in order
to increase access to essential civic resources and lower stress on the watershed. I learned how to
create and transfer geodatabases, create shapefiles and perform qualitative analysis to determine the
placement of zones based on map-selected features.

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NUTR 490 Special Topics in Nutritional Sciences: Sustainable Food & Nutrition Security (1) M
Examines emerging issues in nutrition. Reviews the evidence and potential policy implications.


The lectures for this series covered current topics on sustainability food service business
practices, sustainability of food systems, access to food in urban centers, and the impacts of climate
change and population on food availability and nutrient density. Each lecture was totally relevant for me
and I looked for areas that could be changed with local policy (city, state level) and was particularly
interested on portions on climate change and urban agriculture. I had access to research papers and
summaries that gave me a better idea of what could be achieved and how they could be integrated with
policy and planning at the local level. I hope to use these when proposals to add or remove urban
infrastructure comes up in organizations I am involved with, so the consideration of impacts to food
systems and availability is considered where there is no one to advocate for it.




































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Winter 2015
CEP 302 Environmental Response

Explores issues of environmental crisis and societal responses. Readings and reflective analysis
from broad selection of authoritative sources to develop grounded perspective in ecological literacy and
consciousness. Concurrently, experiential education in challenges and practical responses to building
sustainable society through participation in community-based environmental effort

I hope to understand the reasons behind slow responses for many of the concerns our
population faces today. With that I will better be able to understand how to build support for projects
that I work on whether they are restoration, public infrastructure or policy related.

CEP 400 -Governance Practicum

In the second iteration of governance I will continue my efforts in reaching personal and group
goals for the betterment of the major and myself. I hope to become better at completing tasks as they
are given to me, and how to work in a small group effectively.


CEP/ENVIR 495 - Advanced Topics in Environmental Studies: Grant Proposal Practicum: Grant
Writing Sustainability Projects M
I am excited and hopeful that this course will involve hands on experience in grant writing. This
is one of the most useful skills I could hope to gain because it will allow me to improve my
communication skills. I hope to be more succinct, yet thorough in accurately describing and intertwining
data and outcomes. I want to increase my ability to inspire passion or confidence in a project with mere
words. When the time comes I want to be able to use this in the organization I work at or to help myself
build programs to uplift my community.

ENVIR 498 - Advanced Topics: Farm Lunch (1) M

This was a short course about methods in sustainable agriculture, permaculture, and various
niche areas of farming. I do plan to own my own farm one day, and I work with many urban farmers that
I am more able to direct in terms of their concerns, policies, and needs, thanks to this class.

URBDP 422 Urban and Regional Geospatial Analysis (5) M
Principles of GIS applied to problems in urban design and planning, landscape architecture, and
environmental and resource studies. Practical problem solving approaches using contemporary desktop
mapping packages and vector and raster GIS systems. Siting, environmental evaluation and inventories,
and modeling.
My second GIS methods course will focus more on problems involving the environment and
resources that are specific to the urban landscape. I am aware of many but I would love to ensure that I
have accurate knowledge to base my opinions on. I also want to be able to see what problems are being
looked at on the city level and start to think of relevant mapping projects to develop my own solutions
to bring to the table in my volunteer or work positions. I hope to become more familiar with operations
for vector layers and get aquatinted with more real world uses for mapping.

URBDP 598 Food Systems (3) M

The intent of the course is to familiarize students with basic issues in the production,
distribution, marketing, and disposal of food, particularly with regard to those elements that may be
influenced by civic action and public regulation. Infrastructure is defined broadly and includes elements
from large scale (e.g., land, transportation, and storage) to small (markets and hubs, virtual markets,
community gardens). At the end of the class, students should have an increased understanding of food
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systems as a planning and community development topic, the forces shaping food systems from global to
local, dimensions of conventional and alternative models, and their own relationship and choices with
regard to their) food system.

This course gave me a thorough understanding of the food system in a very detailed way. I am
now able to talk about the complexity of the global food system and how it relates to things such
as obesity, wage depression, social injustice and economic systems. Although some of the initial
learning was superficial, other readings helped us delve deeper into land use and how that affects
local, regional and global food systems and the other areas mentioned above.






































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Spring 2015
CEP 300 CEP Retreat

Focuses on planning analysis assessment and development of the major. Opportunities for
community building and all-major policy deliberation and decisions. Workshops for skill building in
consensus, facilitation, and for major-specific activities such as developing individual study plans and
study abroad experiences.
The second retreat of the major. This retreat will be a wrap up for the year in terms of
completion of goals for the major, committees and individually. Once again, the skills imparted in retreat
involve working well in teams, self-initiating tasks and meeting deadlines and goals. I will utilize the skills
developed here throughout my time in the major and into my chosen career.

CEP 303 Social Structures and Processes

Investigates use of formal and informal social structures and processes within context of
community and environment. Looks at patterns and institutions of social organization and relationships
among different sectors. Issues of interrelatedness, citizenship, knowledge, and communication

Part of the problems with organizations I am seeing is the uncertainty about the authority a
particular agency or group is vested with. Who can do what, when and where? With this course I can
better prepare to deal with some of the pitfalls related to policy creating and implementation on various
levels of organization.

CEP 400 - Governance Practicum

We took over for the seniors and started to do leadership work. I pointed for the first time. I
want to continue work in the communications committees to better equip myself for work in the
planning field in the internet age. I developed more WordPress coding skills and utilize my social media
outreach skills learned from previous courses, to home them and prepare for real world usage.

URBDP 498 Special Topics Digital Design Practicum (1-9, max. 15) (Withdrawal)

Systematic study of specialized subject matter. Topics for each quarter vary, depending upon
current interest and needs, and are announced in the preceding quarter.

Crash course in Adobe Suite, Sketch up and ArcMap design. I have produced dustcovers for
mock planning related material and used InDesign knowledge to update my programs major policy
document. I have Photo shopped images replacing buildings and street facades for the purposes of mock
consultation deliverables. This course has been teaching me so many useful skills. I did not complete

this course but I learned so much in the time I was there. I use most of the design and creative
suite skills I learned, in my current profession and in my committee to produce results on the
CEP website, ARC newsletter and other graphic elements for the major.

GEOG 469 Geographic Information Systems Workshop (5) M Elwood, Nyerges
Practices experience applying geographic information system (GIS) tools to analyze spatial data.
Workshop format involves team-based work on GIS application project in various subfields of geography
for community or university partners; encourages diverse backgrounds in various subfields of
geography.
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The project analyzed state and county health and food system data to find relationships
between health and hunger. The purpose was to inform policy and organizations to promote change on
a state or count level and influence decision makers. Working with Carrie Glover of WithinReach. It was
a very good practice in leadership and project management skills, especially in regards to technical work.
I also learned how to concede tasks and delegate when I knew that I didnt know how to perform a
particular task. Our 3-member team received an honorary mention at the geography research
symposium for our project.

Summer 2015

ENVIRO 495 Urban Farm (3) M

Agro-ecosystems of Northern Cascadia: From the Backyard to the Backforty
This course focused agriculture at the most basic level. From soil types, to the effect of tilling,
composting, and harvesting, we got the full experience of urban farming and traditional farming
methods with a moderately deep insight into plant structures and types. There was a significant hands
on portion of learning and service learning done for this class, to the point that the book material was
almost supplementary. Great course, I am able to use it in my job when conversing with community
gardeners and urban agriculturalists that need me to support them in some way.

ESRM 320 Marketing & Management from a Sustainability Perspective (5) M

Introduction to business concepts relating to marketing, human resource management, small
business and entrepreneurship, and economics in the context of environmental resource
management.


This course was incredibly straightforward in its introduction to sustainable business practices.
The professor delved deep into the text and her own experience in order to give us an understanding of
the organizational structures, departments and roles that work bests to create more economically and
environmentally sustainable businesses. We also learned about the triple bottom line and how to rate
businesses on the Corporate Social Responsibility Index in order to determine the depth and breadth of
their sustainable business practices.

I utilized this course for my literature review in my final senior project to understand the
organizational structure of no-profit agencies. I also use the GRI-CSR guidelines at my place of work to
help us build funding criteria. This serves as the basis to see who we should and shouldnt be accepting
funding from.
ESRM 321 Finance and Accounting from a Sustainability Perspective (5)
Introduction to business concepts relating to finance, accounting, and international business
in the context of environmental resource management.
This is a continuation of the previous course, though it focused more on the economic concepts
of sustainable business practices. It was a very rigorous course and taught me a great deal about what a
company that is doing well can look like in terms of its balance sheets and budget at the end of each
fiscal year. I dont get to use this material quite as often but I feel I took the course in case I ever find
myself in an upper management position at a non-profit.

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Autumn 2015

BE 498 Special Projects NEXTSeattle: Designing for Innovation Challenges (2)
M

Forges interdisciplinary groups of students into team to design solutions to urban social
challenges in Seattle.
This course was amazing and the most hands on experiential learning Ive ever done. We were
taught how to use design thinking methodology and given 3 and a half days to research, determine a
question, and analyze the thoughts and experiences of the people we were designing for to produce
prototype solutions for final presentation to a panel of city and academic officials We did crash course
workshops in pitch training, business plan writing, presentation making, 3D printing, RHINO and Lean
startup.

CEP 300 CEP Retreat (III)

Final fall retreat will have us completely taking over for long graduated seniors as we each take
leadership roles within the major. By this time, I hope to be a point in order to further my abilities in
facilitation and prove that I can be someone that completes tasks and learns to delegate effectively. I
want to be someone that people want to follow.

CEP 400 - Governance Practicum

This is our first time leading the new cohort and ushering in the new class on good terms and
this governance will allow me to do that. I want to continue work in the communications committees to
better equip myself for working in the planning field in the Internet age. I developed my wordpress skills
a bit, and started doing tutorials with the new juniors on how to use adobe suite.

CEP 460 Planning in Context (5)

Examines theory against backdrop of practice for broad historical understanding of social,
political, environmental planning. Critique from viewpoints, e.g., planning history, ethics, ecofeminism,
environmental justice, class and capitalism, planning and global economy. Develop personalized history
reflecting individual experience, professional experience, and philosophical heritage of planning
profession.
I worked on a mapping project for the good food bag program in Seattle. It was the most
amazing experience. Skill wise, I developed project management skills that I hadnt realized I was
missing. And the mapping component was a big refresh for me as we tried to solve how to combine and
visually symbolize some of our findings. We ended up doing a lot of math by hand but it all worked out. .

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CEP 490 Senior Project Prep Seminar I: Research and Project Scoping (1-3)

Supports the conceptualization and planning of senior project/capstone work. Focuses on
selecting a project, beginning a literature review, finding a mentor, and developing a plan.

In this course I will begin designing and researching a questions or problem or idea of my
choosing that relates to my chose fields of interest. I hope to better my research abilities and utilize my
organizational skills to complete the initial set up in time to create the project for spring presentations.



CEP 446 Internship (5, max. 10)

Connects core and individual courses with field work. Group and individual readings develop
understanding of how students' internships and field placements constitute particular element of
community and environmental planning. Explores how what we do for a living is part of our lives as
citizens and public service.


See page 18

NUTR 400 Special Topics in Nutritional Sciences: Food & Culture (1-5, max. 10) M
Examines emerging issues in nutrition. Reviews the evidence and potential policy implications.


The lectures for this series covered current topics on what it means to be culturally authentic,
indigenous food movements and decolonization of the diet, food and identity from medieval times to
present, and food & family. It was an amazing lecture series that game me a large perspective on how to
approach families in my line of work and I still use the readings when engaging in conversation with
other American Indian tribal members about the food system.

WINTER 2016

CEP 400 - Governance Practicum

The winter governance is a continuation of exhibition of facilitation and delegation skills in large
and small groups. I would like to switch committees just once to try a new skill or learn something new
about event planning or improvement of outreach and public speaking skills.

CEP 461 Ethics and Identity (5)

Examination of personal, societal, vocational, environmental, planning ethics. Readings and
discourse on ethical foundations for public life. Individual and group readings on values, human
potential. Develops understanding of ecological context, moral responsibility, and self-awareness.
Constructs positive, diverse view of humanity, environment regardless of race, gender, ethnicity,
beliefs
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CEP 491 Senior Project Prep Seminar II: Methods and Actualization (1-3)

Focuses on implementing the senior project/capstone, including revisions and updates as seen
fit.
By this time I hope to have all of the elements necessary to begin implementation of my project.
This is the time to put the pieces together and get into the bulk of the work or actually perform the work
Ive outlined for myself. The project will more than likely be mostly research based and involve maps of
the region or other regions I am familiar with.

NUTR 303 Neighborhood Nutrition (3) M

Examines the food environment in the local community from the public health perspective.
Explores where people get their food, what influences this decision and various aspects of the local food
movement including access to healthy food, urban agriculture, farmers markets, and farm-to-school
programs.

The information learned in the course will guide me in my desire to implement urban agriculture
into my private life and in public policy proposal. If I can better understand the variables that determine
our food procuring habits then perhaps I can better determine the design of future neighborhoods and
communities or enact policy that eases the burden of citizens.


Food systems are a passion of mine. Food security issues have been a focus of many of my GIS
projects, along with active transportation and 10-20 minutes neighborhoods; I focus on factors
associated with a familys ability to access healthy, affordable food.

THISP 267 Introduction to Chicanx Literature (D)

This course gave a lot of history of Mexico from pre-contact to La Causa movement of the 60s
and 70s, to the present day struggle of Mexican Americans to understand the duality of their identity as
both a former indigenous nation to one of colonized cultural mestizaje. I thought there was nothing I
could possible need to learn about my own culture until I realized I knew absolutely nothing about
where I came from or why we are the way we are. It was an incredibly eye opening experience and I
have since used the content of this course to guide some of the work I do in my job as we work to utilize
an equity based lens to filter our ideas and projects through.


NUTR 400 Special Topics in Nutritional Sciences: Food & Culture (1-5, max. 10)
Examines emerging issues in nutrition. Reviews the evidence and potential policy implications.


The lectures for this series covered current topics food businesses. We spoke with small time brewers,
Chain restaurant owners, small practice dietetic professionals and online recipe aggregators. It was the
most informative in terms of discovering what to do with both nutrition bachelors and minors degrees.
Though I dont believe I found it very useful for my particular area of focus. In fact, this particular lecture
series felt very corporate in slant.

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SPRING 2016

CEP 300 CEP Retreat (IV)

Final Spring retreat will be a time for me to reflect on my goals for post academia. I will have the
chance to be able to guide future seniors and practice more team building techniques.

CEP 400 - Governance Practicum

The final governance course will give me one more chance to learn new skills from the
committees and I hope to be able to properly code a full website by this time. I will enhance my
networking and marketing skills through the completion of the final iteration of my ISP E-portfolio. I
hope to be adept at public speaking, delegation and teamwork by the end of this course since they are
all necessary in most professions I am interested in.

CEP 462 Community and Environment (5) I&S W

Capstone quarter merges core seminars, disciplinary courses in major, community field
experiences for mastery of personal knowledge and skills. Reflection and synthesis of themes in major;
engagement with contemporary issues. Compares theoretical definitions of community and
environment with individual philosophies and knowledge within thoughtful, applied context.

This course will be a culmination of the use of knowledge gained in previous CEP courses and
relating them to issues in the context of our current society. With the diverse backgrounds of everyone
in the major I hope to be able to gain insight in other niche areas of planning. I will also have a strong
basis in arguing the necessity of improvement to our communities based on the philosophies presented
throughout the major courses.

URBDP 498 Community Resilience (3) M

This course follows the HALA (Housing Affordability) commission in Seattle where developer
stakeholder interests were prioritized over the voices of the people that were being referred to (low
income, people of color, the elderly, etc.) Jim Diers gave us a crash course in his theories of community
power and the course thereafter was a comparison of typical planning methods and how they compare
to Dierss style of planning, and how they compare in terms of resilience. Where resilience is long-term
sustainability of the system in which infrastructure exists. For instance, having a resilient food system, or
housing system. Means they are less susceptible to disruption in the event of catastrophe or
infrastructure failure.

I enjoyed the class overall but would find a better method for presentation. I use the
information every day at work, especially the Jim Diers methods, in the CBPR and outreach efforts that
we do as teams at the Puyallup Watershed Initiative.



NUTR 241 Culinary Nutrition Science (3)

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This is a crash course in the science of cooking. Everything is planned and detailed out in terms
of how exactly to make something. There were hands on labs and I began to sue those as a basis for a
cooking program in my organization.

SUMMER 2016

SPAN 134 Intensive First-Year Spanish (15)

Equivalent of SPAN 121, SPAN 122, SPAN 123. Employs "planned immersion" method with
video as the central medium of presentation.
I wish to develop proficiency in, at least, two languages that are pervasive in the United States.
Spanish, aside from being my families native tongue, is the most widespread and useful for reaching the
most people. With the intensive I will no longer be missing the gap between beginner and intermediate
courses and I can finally finish up my language requirement in case I desire to pursue a second major.
With a Spanish background I hope to be able to tailor my messages to a different cultural audience and
get more people active in the programs and resources in their cities.





























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Internship Plans

For my internship I worked at the Puyallup Watershed Initiative as the Just & Healthy Food

System COI Coordinator. Its a fancy term for an administrative manager. I do just about everything I
took a class for. I analyze food systems in the area, I make maps, I create graphic products, I write
reports, I give briefs and presentations, I plan events, help write grants, do budgeting and spreadsheet
workplans, and consensus based governance. Its everything I dreamed of and more. I am so grateful
for the opportunity!

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Senior Project Plan

My Senior Project focused on getting non-profits and local governments to integrate a methodology
for idea generation and solution finding, called, Design Thinking, into their structures and start using it
to better engage and empower the communities theyre working in.

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Extracurricular Plan

During my time in CEP I worked as a Commute Concierge at UW Transportation Services. So I

fulfilled my goal, but most of the time I went home to take care of my family. This was a very great
experience, but it made me realize how much I hate doing work over the phone.

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