I am still early in my undergraduate career and I am not as far along as I hoped I would be because of some bumps in the road so far but I plan on transferring to City College by the end of next year where I will be pursuing a bachelor’s in environmental engineering. I’m currently at Guttman community college trying to finish my associate degree in liberal arts and science and I have been exploring some fields and taking classes related to things like Urban Planning and Urban Studies because I’m not entirely sure what kind of work I want to do with my bachelor’s degree but urban planning was really interesting. I am really passionate and focused on doing something with agriculture and food systems, I am really interested in permaculture/regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. This is something that I know I want to be a part of and want to work with but I have not yet really found out exactly what position that would be.

I would love to complete my master’s somewhere like upstate SUNY, Vermont, California, or Colorado where I can get a more hands-on and immersive experience with sustainable agriculture methods and environmental engineering. I am a DACA recipient but there is also hope that I could “study abroad” in my own country Brazil and learn about urban planning. agriculture and sustainable food systems in one of the epicenters of environmental matters.

I plan on living as sustainably as possible and very far away from any city in the future so I am looking into job fields and positions that would support my lifestyle. Right now I’m just focused on getting good grades and learning as much as I can about the things I am passionate about and I am open to possibilities and opportunities to explore new things related to my interests. I feel like once I am closer to completing my bachelor’s I will have a more clear idea of what position or career path I want so I’m not *too* worried about it! I’m taking things one day at a time and allowing myself to be in flow with whatever aligns with my interests and visions.

I have learned a lot about the world of academia from CPL and its staff and it is comforting to know that I have the opportunity and support to further explore that route if I want to. I think a lot of the work that staff and speakers of CPL do is fascinating and I could see myself also potentially entering academia but I am still torn about working in food systems/agriculture and research/humanities. In my perfect world, I would do both because I believe they are inextricably related. My dream job would be where I am/do both engineering and research/academia-humanities-related projects.

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