Victoria Fox
Honors Portfolio
Sophomore Classes
Autumn Quarter 2015
Autumn Quarter, 2015: About this time last year, I did not have much of a plan for my degree or what classes to take. However, with my enrollment in the ESRM Major and my consideration of a Restoration Ecology Transcription and Environmental Studies Minor, my scedule became much more structured. I was able to complete both core Honors and ESRM classes, and actually found a math class that I enjoyed which also fulfilled ESRM requirements. This was one of my highest GPA quarters at UW, and I was very proud of my work that I put in to all three classes. Certainly one of my favorite quarters at university!
Winter Quarter 2016
Winter Quarter, 2016: This was the quarter that I had finally enrolled in my Environmental Studies Minor, even though I was not able to take ENVIR classes until the next year. However, I was able to take my first class that would apply to my transcript focus within Environmental Science : Restoration Ecology and Environmental Horticulture. Economics was an academic challenge for me, even though the concepts were not very difficult. Honors 231: Politics of Living and Dying was the most intellectually stimulating class that I had taken Winter quarter, and the personal, face to face class discussions were very different from the lecture style classes that I have had in the past.
This was another one of my favorite classes; mostly because Karen Litfin, the professor, did an excelent job at using contemplative practice, which I think should be more emphasized in education.
Math has never been my strongest subject, but I really found my niche in Statistics. This class was a great application of math in my future career field.
This was certainly not the most exciting class- studying dirt at 8:30 on monday morning was not "fun", but I learned many useful applications of soil sciences.
This was my first taste at restoration since I had enrolled in the Restoration Ecology transcription, and somehow managed to take before Intro to Restoration.
My mother enjoyed economics, but it looks like that passion did not pass down to me... The large lecture setting certainly did not help my experience. This class was a humbling learning experience for me.
The Politics of Living and Dying sounded too interesting to pass up. This class was very deep thinking, and not what I was expecting for the most part. It focused more on anatomical rights than transendentialism.
Spring Quarter, 2016: Spring is my favorite time of the year, and this Quarter was very relaxed compared to my other quarters. Surprisingly, my ESRM 331 class- a three credit class- was the most difficult in terms of course load. My HONORS 232 class was a different layout than the usual HONORS classes, as it was large lecture style. Through this class, I performed Service Learning at the Lifelong Thrift Store in Capitol Hill and learned how to take the Lightrail through Seattle. Also, listed under "Other" below, I earned credit through two internships during Spring Quarter: one at Pack Forest, and one through the Society for Ecological Restoration.
Spring Quarter 2016
Title: Landscape
Plant Identification
Type: NW
Grade: 3.8
When I registered for this class, I didn't realize that it was a lecture style class within SOC 270 class. The Honors section had personal quiz section with Prof. Harris and an additional Service Learning project on top of regular coursework.
Because this was such an introductory level class and I have a good foundation in ESRM, I found this class quite boring and repetitive. It was interesting to see a more humanitarian perspective, however.
I was very excited to take a plant identification class, even though I was warned that this was a tough class despite being 3 credits. However, I studied hard and excelled at this course and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Title:Honors- Social Problems
Type: I&S
Grade: 4.0
Title: Society and Environments
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Title: Soil Sciences
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Title: Probability
and Statistics
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Title: People and the Planet Politics
Type: I&S/NW
Grade: 3.9
Title: The Politics of Living and Dying
Type: I&S
Grade: 4.0
Title:Microeconomics
Type: NW
Grade: 3.2
Title: Restoration in North America
Type: NW
Grade: 4.0
Other 2016
Other, 2016: Sophomore year was a big credit experiment. I finally had my "plan" in place, and I knew that it would make it much easier for me to take as many credits as I could handle as soon as possible. So, I took a few alternative routes to get my credits: For Spring Break, instead of going on vacation, I was offered an internship with Pack Forest at Mount Rainier. During Spring Quarter, I had also applied to and offered an internship with the Society for Ecological Restoration, which I had been working with for the past year. I decided to make the most of my time back home in Bellingham when I returned for the summer and get my final MATH 125 credit out of the way ahead of time. These credits were a different layout that what I had experienced before- none of these classes counted towards my GPA, and only one of them was an in class earning experience. My internships were very hands on and an excellent experience in Restoration Ecology.
Title: Pack Forest
Type: Other
Grade: N/A
These credits were earned by taking an internship at Pack Forest. This internship gave me hands on experience working in a forest and performing restoration on a large landscape.
These credits were earned by taking an internship with the Society for Ecological Restoration. I worked in the UW chapter nursery, and was in charge of organizing volunteers, caring for plants, and social media outreach on the SER facebook page.
Title: SER Internship
Type: Other
Grade: N/A
These credits were earned by taking a calculus class at Whatcom Community College near my home town in Bellingham. It was nice to be able to focus on one class at a time, and I saved lots of money by living at home and paying much less per credit than the UW charges.
Title: Calculus II
Type: Other
Grade: N/A