Janielle Marcell (BS Environmental Geology, 2005)

I have been working for Island County's Planning Department for 2 years. I started as a Planning Technician (working the front counter/processing permits) and after about 8 months, I accepted a job as a Critical Areas Planner - Water Quality Specialist.

My current job is about 40% field work (water quality monitoring) and 60% office work. My office work consists of analyzing Water Quality Data, basic statistics, report writing, creating educational posters, organizing educational events and presenting to the public. I am also involved in website management and part of a committee in charge of re-organizing and designing a new website for the Planning department. This position has allowed me to figure out my strengths and pursue those tasks. One day you'll find me in rubber waders and flippers out in a float tube in the middle of a lake and the next day I'll be in business attire presenting to a board of marine scientists.

I probably would have never found this job if I didn't go down the path for the Environmental Geology degree. I was able to take classes outside of the GEOL prefix which introduced me to Land-use Planning. Probably the most beneficial classes from my CWU experience include: Land-use Planning (GEOG), Geomorphology, Environmental Geochemistry, General Chemistry and Statistics. Also, my participation in undergraduate research with Lisa Ely really helped me gain needed experience in poster making, presenting, researching and field work - which is all very similar to the job I do now (I really do make a lot of posters)!

After graduating from the CWU Geology Department, I would have never guessed that I would have experience in beach seining for juvenile salmon, know a lot about fecal coliform bacteria and be using my chemistry... but here I am.

I am living in a little house with a beautiful view in Anacortes, WA with my boyfriend Carl and our two dogs; Sophia (boxer) and Bogie (Lhasa apso). I work in Coupeville (Central Whidbey Island) and have about a 45-50 minute commute from home. I don't mind the commute, because at least I'm not sitting in rush hour traffic on I5. In my free time I take many dance classes (Modern/Hip Hop/ Tap) and have recently (last summer) taken up golfing (woo hoo!).