Victoria Fox
Honors Portfolio
Senior Classes
Autumn Quarter 2017
Autumn Quarter, 2017: Otherwise known as my last Autumn Quarter as an Undergraduate student at the University of Washington. Bittersweet to begin my last year at this step in the journey, but so glad to see how far I've come so far! I had the foresight to see how hectic this quarter would be with graduate school applications, working at the Terrestrial Restoration Lab, and keeping up with my capstone requirements; so I fiddled with my schedule a bit to make it easier on myself this quarter. In September, I participated in the Costa Rica Exploration Seminar which counts toward "Early Fall Start" credits. This class was 5 credits and counted towards Autumn Quarter credit limits, so I was able to take 7 additional credits in Autumn Quarter and stil be considered a full time student. And boy, was it worth it! I absolutely loved my Costa Rica trip, and appreciated the time to focus on my Restoration Capstone and Environmental Sociology.
Hello, Costa Rica! I participated in a travel abroad program in Nicaragua and Costa Rica in high school, and it felt so good to be able to come back. This program was with Dr. Marzluff, an Ornthologist, who took us through dense lowland jungles, damp coastlines, and misty cloud forests. I'll never forget the memories I made and the people I met on this trip!
Although this was a two credit class, it was the first quarter in a year-long capstone class that I would be taking to finish my undergraduate education. I met my 5 team members, was assigned to Magnuson Park, and began thinking about potential projects to do for the Department Honors program that I decided to take on.
Much of my education in the environmental field is science related; biology, chemistry, ecosystems, and such. It was refreshing to study the environment and how the human dimension impacts the field. I was glad to find that many of the same concepts overlap with what I have learned in ESRM.
Title: Environmental Sociology
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Title: Honors Restoration Capstone
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Title: Costa Rica Study Abroad Program
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Winter Quarter, 2018: Amid results from Graduate Schools, researching funding options for my Masters, working part time at the Terrestrial Research Lab and the Visual Perception study, bouncing between Salsa and my volleyball club and intramural teams, I still had to devote time to four classes this quarter. This truly felt like the quarter of the culmination of my hard work; my volleyball team and I won our tournament, I was accepted to three graduate school programs, and my two capstone classes helped me put my learning in perspective with where I began. Winter Quarter is usually not so eventful, but there were certainly some key life changing moments my final time around.
Winter Quarter 2018
Title: Honors Program Capstone
Type: N/A
Grade: TBD
Title: Emotions Across Cultures
Type: NW
Grade: TBD
This Honors class featured the cultural norms regarding emotional expression; when it is appropriate to express happiness or sadness, who gets to express emotions, where and when to express them in public or private, and ongoing discussion about the universality of emotion.
This is the second part of my three quarter ESRM Capstone class. We focused on finalizing our work plan and the ground work involving the removal of invasive species and planting of native species. My experience with SER gave me skills important for hosting our volunteer events.
Finally, my last Honors class: the Honors Program Capstone. This class allowed us to develop this portfolio and reflect on the lessons that we have learned throughout our time here at UW. I am a huge fan of reflection, and this class gave me the chance to flex these skills.
Although it would seem that ESRM majors would know a lot about plants and how they function, I had actually not taken a biology class in six years... so this class posed as a difficult challenge for me. The class material was engaging but difficult, and I spent many office hours with Professor Kim.
Title: Honors Restoration Capstone
Type: NW
Grade: TBD
Title: Ecophysiology
Type: NW
Grade: TBD
