Amelija Sorg-Taylor: Completing Her Five-Year Plan

Amelija Sorg-Taylor is not one to approach important tasks at a leisurely pace. Temple's planning program certainly played to her strengths.

In just five years at Temple, Sorg-Taylor has been able to complete not one, but two degree programs as part of the Department of Planning and Community Development's "4+1" program.

"I come from a family of civic minded people. I've been passionate about helping people and communities for a long time," she said. "Planning is a tangible way to make some sort of difference in a creative way."

As a Community Development undergraduate, Sorg-Taylor completed several master's level courses. When she graduates this year, she'll have both her undergraduate degree and a master's in City and Regional Planning under her belt.

"It was definitely challenging but at such a young age, I'm happy to be able to go out into the work force and feel that I'm well-equipped to accomplish whatever I set out to do — I've grown and learned so much in my time at Temple," said Sorg-Taylor, 23, of Ambler. "One of the great things about the program is that it focuses on actual issues facing the Philadelphia region. It is community-based service learning — I've had a chance to reach out to and work with communities and gain experience that wouldn't have been available to me otherwise."

Most recently, Sorg-Taylor worked with a team of planning students to develop "policy-based and place-based changes to the Germantown Avenue corridor to provide tools to nonprofit organizations to determine how best to revitalize the neighborhood."

"The master's program students have been working with the community organization Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) in coordination with students from the Community Development program and the Department of Architecture. The goal has been to develop a strong economic base for the neighborhood and create more amenities for the community," she said. "We've provided APM with a detailed planning document, including a general assessment for the most feasible projects. We hope that they will be able to apply these tools to improve the overall physical space, encouraging safer, walkable communities."

During her time at Temple, Sorg-Taylor has already amassed an impressive résumé of planning experiences, taking part in numerous internships related to her chosen field.

She was a community planning intern with the Montgomery County Planning Commission, and intern in the Falls Township Zoning and Land Development Department, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consultant with Temple University Computer Services and an extern with the Philadelphia Mayor's Office of Sustainability.

"I was looking for as many different experiences as possible. At the municipal level, you are truly in the weeds, you're working in depth with land proposals," she said. "At the county level, it is more big picture, seeing how all of the projects fit together and helping municipalities achieve their sustainable goals."

Sorg-Taylor is currently interning with Transportation Resource Associates in Philadelphia, where she will continue throughout the summer.

"I've been particularly interested in sustainable transportation systems and equitable transportation systems — making sure that transportation is accessible to everyone. Transportation planning is very intricate; it's among the most tangible planning methods," she said. "Everyone uses and needs transportation. You have to take everything into account, from the communities involved to the materials used to accessibility to simply how to get from point A to B to C."

Having immersed herself in the planning field while at Temple, Sorg-Taylor said taking courses at the Ambler, Main and Center city campuses has given her a firm foundation for planning within urban and suburban settings.

"When I started my undergraduate program, I took a course called People, Places and the Environment with (Associate Professor) Bill Cohen. That's where I learned of planning as a profession — if it weren't for Temple I don't honestly know what I'd be doing right now," she said. "It was such a seamless process going from the undergraduate to the graduate program and I had a lot of help along the way from the faculty and department chairs. I'm ready. I know I can do whatever I want in the field."