When I was first introduced to the four Community Planning Workshop (CPW) projects for the 2014 winter quarter and asked to pick one, I felt a bit overwhelmed. The projects were so unique and varied. They included highway transportation, regional food hub, parking and multi-modal circulation issues, and hazard mitigation planning. With all options spread out before me, I felt as if I was looking at a menu of daily specials and I could only pick one item and the rest would be forever unavailable.

I am notorious for being indecisive, so having to chose between multiple projects and picking just one to work on for six-months was going to be a stressful process. At the beginning I was leaning towards one of the transportation options, but I wasn’t certain and I wanted to make sure I was going to make the right decision.

To help make the choice easier, I took a step back and asked myself what I wanted to put into this experience and what I wanted to get out of it. First, I made a list of skills that I wanted to acquire: experience working with a local government, community outreach, and gathering and analyzing survey data. Then, I started whittling down my options.

Looking at the projects, I realized how distinct they each were. They all had their own identity and their own challenges and benefits associated to each one. Each project would sharpen and strengthen different skills throughout the process. As I went through the menu of options looking at transportation, food hub, parking and hazard planning I kept track of which project best suited what I wanted to get out of the class. After looking at all the options, I was surprised to realize that natural hazard mitigation had come out on top.

Before signing up for CPW, I had never thought about hazard planning. But after looking at all of the individual skills that are going to be involved, I realized that this is an area of planning that interests me.

The biggest lesson I took away from choosing a CPW project was the benefits of having an open mind. At the beginning of the process I thought I was going to pick one type of project, but after internally evaluating what I actually want to get out of this program, I realized there was something else that I was unaware of that had all the right elements for me. It’s a little daunting going with this unknown area instead of the safe pick. But I am excited for the challenge and am looking forward to learning more about natural hazard mitigation planning over the next 20 weeks.

About the Author:  Drew Pfefferle is a first year Community and Regional Planning graduate student. He is from Twin Falls, Idaho and graduated from California State University Chico with a degree and Parks and Recreation Administration.