SEGMENT II PRACTICE ASSESSMENT

Reflective Essay

In the past year, I have learned and grown in many aspects. By exploring outside my comfort zone I was able to accomplish and experience many new things since my last practice assesment. Working with my peers to re-start the BAC SASLA Chapter this past Fall was and has been extremely rewarding and eye-opening in how much coordination occurs at the university, or within any large team, on a daily basis. I have developed my skills in communication, teamwork, graphic design, and presentation since working with SASLA and am excited to now participate as the Vice President since this Spring. Additionally, last summer I was lucky enough to be hired as a Teaching Assistant for the Sasaki Foundation's Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED). Over the 9 weeks, I gained insight into what the professional environment looks like and while communicating with other Teaching Assistants was able to learn and develop in new ways. Both of these experiences have been challenging in their own ways and forced me to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Especially my position at the Sasaki Foundation, I found myself feeling out of my depths at many points, but by the end am reasured in my abilities to lead a room of people and be a good mentor and teacher.

At the Sasaki Foundation, my role as a Teaching Assistant meant that my responsibilities were mostly with guiding my team of five student interns as they developed a concept for their project brief. This meant answering lots of questions and guiding them through any difficulties with Adobe software, presentations, or design representation. As the main overseer of my team, I also gave a lot of individualized feedback and felt responsible for the students' growth in the program. More broadly, I was in charge of leading two program-wide workshops, In Adobe Illustrator and SketchUp, as well as organizing a field trip to the Rose Kennedy Greenway. At BAC SASLA I started last summer as the secretary / communications chair and have since stepped up to vice president as the need arose. My responsibilities have thus changed from being mostly a record keeper and social media coordinator to taking on more responsibility in planning events and representing the organization in meetings.

As I look ahead to the next year, I hope to further expand my horizons and experience new working environments by interning with a Landscape Architecture firm this summer. This experience will provide a new perspective on the design world and help develop critical skills in software and graphic communication as well as professionalism. I hope to have a chance to experience many types of working environments through practice to get a better understanding of my field at large.

Outside of 320 Newbury street team SASLA and volunteers finish setting up Parking Day for Fall 2023 while pedestrians and cars pass

Student Information

Student Name: Jillian Ziegler

Degree Program: MLA

Self Assessment

I rate my current abilities as follows: 4 = outstanding/exemplary; 3 = proficient; 2 = needs improvement; 1 = unsatisfactory; N/A = no opportunity to observe

Design Approach: 3 of 4

- evaluates and solves problems effectively- accesses, learns, and applies theoretical and practical knowledge- brings skills and methodologies from academic work into practice work

Collaboration: 4 of 4

- works effectively with others and manages conflict effectively- helps motivate others to succeed- understands and contributes to organization’s goals- respects diversity and diverse opinions

Communication: 3 of 4

- speaks and writes with clarity, confidence, and concision- makes effective presentations- exhibits good listening and questioning skills

Technical Skills: 3 of 4

- showing positive development with software skills- understands the role different technologies play in design- understands technologies related to the execution of design projects

Professional Development: 4 of 4

- assumes responsibility, sets goals, can multitask- possesses honesty/integrity/personal ethics- shows initiative/self-motivation and good time management- is punctual, has good attitude- is engaged in design culture

Table of Contents

Professional Experience

Project 1: SASAKI Foundation

Project 2: BAC Student Chapter of ASLA

Project 1

SEED TA

Organization: Sasaki Foundation

Mentor: Estafany Benitz

Type of Project: Paid Teaching Assistant

Location: Boston, MA, USA

My Role on the Project: Teaching Assistant

Major Competencies, Skills, and Knowledge Learned: Web/graphic/interactive Design, Adobe Suite, 2D/3D CAD Drafting (SketchUp), Project Management, Budgeting & Accounting, Freehand Sketching, Diagramming, Leadership & Service, Project Management, Team Building, Mentoring, Teaching/Conducting Workshops, Precedents, Reading & Research, Attend professional lectures/Conferences

Project Description

At the Sasaki Foundation, a non profit organization founded by Sasaki Firm members, the Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) is the main education program. I applied for and was hired to be a Teaching Assistant for this SEED Program. SEED is a six week program where high school interns are introduced to the world of design by completing a design project from start to finish within a small team. Depending on the project topic/client the student work can lean more architecture, landscape, or engineering. This past summer the students were given a brief to design the new Groundworks Sommerville urban farm. Each week the other TA's and I individually lead our team of 5 interns through a step in the design process, with the help multidisciplinary volunteer mentors from Sasaki. The six weeks consisted of lessons on Site analysis, Diagramming, Idea conception, Designing, Detailing, and Presentation strategies. In the three weeks before the students began their program, the other TA's and I worked together to finalize an enjoyable and enriching program with team bonding, software workshops, field trips, interviews and presentations. in the final week, family and community members gathered for each of the teams final presentations.

Each of the Teaching Assistants were in charge of leading at least one software workshop to introduce the students to Adobe software at a beginner's level. I chose to put together and present a workshop on Adobe Illustrator, which I felt I had the most competency in at the time. The concept I came up with was a diagramming tutorial using the site the student we're working with so it would be applicaple to their work thus far. A sample was made as well as a Powerpoint presentation and then on the workshop day, I led the tutorial in teaching the students how to download and set up Adobe Illustrator and how to complete the sample I designed, shown here. This was quite challenging for me as I had never conducted a workshop like this before but I feel that I grew and learned a lot about teaching as well as the software itself while completing this workshop.

Shown here are the students in my team (team Ginkgo) completing the photoshop tutorial conducted by a fellow TA. [for the purposes of keeping images of student faces to a minimum this photo was chosen instead of the photo taken during my own illustrator workshop and all students involved have sign the necessary release forms for this content which can already be seen on the Sasaki Foundation website and socials accounts]

Research & Coordination

Each TA was put in charge of organizing one field trip for the summer. I was assigned the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which I had very little knowledge of. In the weeks before the students arrived, I researched and did site visits in order to better understand the park. For student activities I wrote up a short scavenger hunt with an accompanying map for the students to reference. On the day of I led about 20 students on a tour through the site, focusing on the use of materials, prgramming, and design intent. This was a good test of my communication and leadership skills and felt proud to effectively produce and enjoyable field trip for the students.

Hand Drawing & Teaching

Every morning when the student interns first arrived at the Sasaki office, the TA's would meet with their teams and conduct a small drawing lesson. Lesson topics ranged from drafting techniques like shading, perspectives, portrait drawing, and of course what is pictured here, plan elevation and section drawing. This was a great opportunity to reflect on what I learned in my first year at the BAC and present the information in a simple way to students that generally did not have experience drawing or drafting.

Software & Workshops

Each of the TA's was in charge of leading at least one software workshop to introduce the students to Adobe software at a beginners level. As mentioned earlier I chose the Illustrator tutorial, but I also offred to conduct a SketchUp workshop since I was the most experienced team member with SketchUp. While the tutorial materials were already provided, it was a challenge explaining a 3D software for students that had never used it before. Thankfully, the tutorial workshop went well and the students were all able to use SketchUp for their final design proposal.

Program Coordination

Throughout the six-week program there were certain activities we coordinated weekly as well. In the first image (top left) you can see a team bonding exercise lead by our youth manager Jimi. We typically organized at least one team bonding exercise with all the students once a week to allow them a break. As we progressed in the summer, some students became stressed with the looming final deadline so the TA team communicated with management and coordinated for more time to be dedicated to breaks. The second photo (bottom left) is one example of the weekly share-outs where each team of 5 students put together a presentation showing their progress throughout the week. As a TA I worked with my team to prepare the materials and practice the presentation for each Friday. The final image (right) is from one of the intern teams' final presentation for which we prepared food and a program for all the visiting parents and community members.

Project 2

BAC SASLA Vice President

Organization: American Society of Landscape Architects BAC Student Chapter

Mentor: Margarita Iglesias

Type of Project: Student Organization Leadership

Location: Boston, MA, USA

My Role on the Project: Secretary then Vice President

Major Competencies, Skills, and Knowledge Learned: Civic Engagement, Service, Volunteerism, Diagramming, Web/Graphic/Interactive Design, Budgeting & Accounting, Schedule & Workplan Development, Project Management, Office Committees / Student Organizations

Project Description

This past fall, I joined the executive board of the BAC Student Chapter of the American Society for Landscape Architects as the Secretary / Communications chair. After the club fell into a slump during the COVID-19 pandemic, two other students and I worked to revive the club for the landscape community at the BAC. As the Communications Chair/ Secretary, my responsibilities included taking meeting notes, helping organize and execute events, managing email communications with BAC community, as well as creating content and managing the club instagram account. Since the start of the Spring semester, some things in the organization have shifted and I stepped up as the Vice President, expanding my duties into more event planning/coordinating and representing the club at meetings and events always ready to assist our chapter president. In this new position, I have been working on my time management and effective communication so that I can help improve the club for Landscape Architecture Students.

Arnold Arboretum Guided Tour
Group photo from the Arboretum guided tour last October. For this event I created the graphics and RSVP form as well as coordinated with the rest of my team to arrange for an arboretum guide to meet with our SASLA group.

Parking Day 2023

Both of the above images are from our very successful Park(ing) Day project this past September. This event took lots of coordination and we begun working on it last July, two months before the exhibition day. For this event I was responsible again for the graphics and social media communication but was also very involved in the coordination with the Office of Student Life, City of Boston, and BAC student body volunteers to make this event run smoothly. I learned so much about working the the university and my fellow peers on this project and solidified my involvement with SASLA as it was my first time organizing such a big event.

Mikyoung Kim Firm Tour
Image from the Mikyoung Kim Firm Tour hosted by SASLA as our final event of the fall semester and made possible by BAC landscape faculty Yufan Gao

Social Media Management

Pictured above are four examples of flyers I designed and uploaded to the SASLA instagram account for various events

LABash 2024

Thanks to a generous budget from the BAC Office of Student Life, the entire SASLA executive team was able to fly all the way to Davis, California for this years LABash. LABash is the Spring conference from the American Society for Landscape Architects focused on students and consists of a vendor/firm expo, field trips to nearby sites, two keynote lectures, and many other talks from professionals and UC Davis professors. Pictured here is a talk I attended about racialized landscapes and climate change (top left), our field trip out to the Jepson Prairie to study the unique vernal pool ecosystems (top right), the SASLA team posing with the landscaping sheep organized by the Olmstead Network (bottom left), and finally the check-in bag provided by the UC Davis LABash team (bottom right). I feel extremely lucky to have been able attend LABash this year and hope that our club can continue to attend other conferences in the future to represent the BAC Landscape Architecture department.

RESUME

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