Jared Bethke – second-year urban and regional planning master’s student – secured a $450,000 grant for the construction of the Welaunee Greenway recreational trail in Leon County as part of his FSU-funded Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Internship.
Bethke’s application scored second highest among 24 Recreational Trails Program (RTP) submissions for FY 2024-2025.
“My internship at Blueprint, along with professional development courses, helped me land a job as a full-time Transportation Planning Consultant in Austin, Texas, starting in August 2025,” Bethke said. “I would not have reached this point without the support of the faculty, my education, and the extracurricular resources provided by FSU.”
Before starting graduate school in FSU’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP),Bethke earned his B.S. in political science with a minor in urban planning. During his time as an undergraduate at Florida State University, Jared participated in the Combined Pathways Program, where he took two graduate planning courses that were applied to his graduate degree. This experience awoke his passion for planning and pushed him to pursue his graduate education at FSU.
Bethke serves as DURPSA’s treasurer and deputy speaker for finance in the Congress of Graduate Students (COGS). In his role with COGS, he led the development and approval of the FY 25-26 Budget Bill. He coordinated with over 30 student organizations and university departments to allocate more than $1.2 million in funding to programs that directly support graduate students.
“I grew up in Tallahassee and felt this institution’s positive, powerful impact on my city from a very young age,” Bethke said. “Going to football games, I was in awe of FSU’s school spirit, talented athletes, and performing arts. When I was considering college, I wanted a school with a strong community and a rigorous educational curriculum that provided diverse and ample opportunities. As someone interested in government, COSSPP’s programs, and FSU’s supportive community made the school a perfect fit.”
Bethke will graduate this semester and will begin working as a Transportation Planning Consultant in Austin, Texas, later this summer.
For more information on the Master of Science in Planning (MSP) program at Florida State, visit cosspp.fsu.edu/durp, and for more information about the Department of Political Science, visit cosspp.fsu.edu/polisci.