GEOG 200

FOUNDATIONS OF GEOGRAPHY

I took this course spring 2023 after a break from school during the pandemic. If it wasn't for this class, I would not be a geography major today. This course was designed to be half lecture, half lab. Over the course of the semester, I learned the history and philosophy of geography, as well as basic Adobe Illustrator skills.

Essay #4 - Racial and Gender Disparities in Geographic Knowledge

Essay #11 - Looking Forward: Geography's Ongoing Challenges

Race/Ethnicity of Wisconsin Schools

One of our final lab assignments in the course tasked us with creating an eye-catching infographic using data given to us in an Excel spreadsheet. This combined the skills I had acquired over the course of the semester, from Adobe Illustrator to Excel.

Hometowns of Geography Students

This project was my first featuring state outlines and a legend in Adobe Illustrator. I was given data on the hometowns of Geography 200 students and our task was to create a map that included all of them.

L2 -Intro Reference Map Digitizing-1.png

Africa Reference Map

This was the second Illustrator map assignment of the course. We were given the names of countries and the base map. Everything else - colors, placement of titles, and the legend were designed by me.

The Midwest: Perceptual Map

For our third lab assignment, we were tasked with creating a perceptual map of the Midwest including the "center" of the region and our hometown. This challenged me to think about how I defined the region, both culturally and physically.

The Midwest: As defined by Geography 200 students

For our last lab assignment, we were tasked with combining everyone's perceptual maps of the Midwest into one clear, concise project. I found this assignment both incredibly fun and challenging. I loved seeing everyone's takes on what they consider the Midwest and seeing trends in the data depending on the student's hometown was neat. Because the task was quite vague, it gave me the flexibility to create the map I thought looked best, allowing me to flex all of my geographic and creative muscles.