Wilder School Spotlight
Wilder School Spotlight: Sarah Pritchard, urban and regional studies undergraduate
By Briana Williams
A Mechanicsville-native, Sarah Pritchard found herself not too far from home, yet gaining the real-world experience she longed for at the Wilder School at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“I didn't really have a dream school, so I just kind of went to VCU just because it was close to home,” said Pritchard. “And, I ended up loving it here, especially since our program is in Richmond in particular and cultivates an environment to learn how the government and city planning works.”
After making a shift her first semester as a biology major, Pritchard, now a Wilder School urban and regional studies undergraduate student with a minor in environmental studies, knew that she had made the right decision.
“I was overwhelmed with everything and I just picked a major because it was something that interested me, but not really something I wanted to do with my life,” she said. “So, I switched halfway through the first semester to urban planning and I have loved it ever since.”
Pritchard was among millions of students whose study abroad programs were abruptly halted by COVID, which ultimately caused many challenges for her as she returned to the states to complete her spring semester.
“I was supposed to study abroad in spring of 2020 through the Wilder School’s exchange program in Germany at Bauhaus University, Weimar. I went to Germany on March 1st, 2020, and I was there for less than two weeks before VCU said you have to come home,” said Pritchard.
Due to the course add/drop deadline having passed, Pritchard worked closely with her academic advisor, Nicolette Zbell, to scramble and gather what credits she could get at the time.
“I probably talked to Mrs. Zbell at least 10 times that semester about what to do with my credits because everybody was experiencing this unknown fear of, ‘what is COVID like?’ How is this going to affect their lives now?” asked Pritchard. “I can't work right now. I can't go to school right now. So yeah, it was just a weird transition and state at the time. I'm glad we're out of that now.”
In addition, John Accordino, Ph.D., a professor at the Wilder School who also heads the exchange program, allowed Pritchard to do an independent study on the topic of German planning. It’s during these challenging moments that Pritchard credits her success at the Wilder School to faculty that have provided professional experience and created an environment where students are learning from other professionals specific to the kinds of careers they are focused on.
“I really like that our professors are so personable and they all have had professional planning jobs and/or they still have professional planning jobs, which is a lot nicer than just learning from someone who just teaches it,” said Pritchard. “You're actually learning from someone who practices it. And I feel like that gives a different kind of component or element of realism to the degree.”
“I really like that our professors are so personable and they all have had professional planning jobs and/or they still have professional planning jobs, which is a lot nicer than just learning from someone who just teaches it,” said Pritchard. “You're actually learning from someone who practices it. And I feel like that gives a different kind of component or element of realism to the degree.”
Pritchard is also a member of the Wilder School’s Urban and Regional Planning Student Association where urban planners are often invited to speak to students at events.
“And a lot of times faculty from the Wilder School get those people to speak at our events. Once, Jeff Speck, who is also a walkable city designer, did a really cool talk about how to make our cities more equitable through making them walkable cities,” said Pritchard. “Having an environment where we can actually see it happen and hear from professionals that have kind of created this profession really allows us to have a better experience.”
Post-graduation, Pritchard hopes to work in sustainability planning. “I feel like sustainability has a lot of possibilities to change many issues such as homelessness, affordable housing and also just to fix our environment.”
Over this past summer, Pritchard gained much insight and experience as a landscape architecture intern at WPL in Virginia Beach, Va., which ultimately helped to form her future education goals.
“It was something I didn't really know much about, but they hired me because of my urban planning background and they do a lot of master plans and conceptual plans,” said Pritchard. “And through that experience, I really, really, really enjoyed it. And I'm actually looking at going to graduate school at either Virginia Tech or UVA for landscape architecture to marry the urban planning side and the landscape architecture side into one and kind of work towards that sustainability planning.”
Both Virginia Tech and UVA are the only two schools in Virginia that have those programs and after graduating this fall, Pritchard plans to apply to begin her graduate studies in Fall 2022.
“I definitely think that the Wilder School has given me a lot of opportunities that have allowed me to grow my professional and educational career,” she said. “I think the most important thing is the relationships that I've formed with professors. I liked that the school is kind of smaller than the general VCU school and I've definitely maintained relationships with my professors.”