Stephanie Cervantes

I graduated from Smith College where I received a B.A. in Government, B.A. in Environmental Science and Policy and a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional
Planning from UCI in 2017. My senior year I worked on a project that exposed me to urban and advance planning, which instantly sparked my interest. I now work with the City of Oceanside in the Planning Department. Here, I use my research and writing skills every day to get information for the public and write staff reports for appointed and elected officials. My advice for current students is that you shouldn’t be afraid to go outside the traditional STEM fields. As a planner,
I sit in meetings with engineers, developers, and the public and having a background in math and science is so important for my understanding, but also to explain how planning affects a project.