Sarah Hanlon

Sarah Hanlon—2015 Fellow

Year: Class of 2016
Major: Political Science and Latin American Studies
Brian Coyle Center and Campus Kitchens Augsburg

My Chuck Green Fellowship combined my interests in community, social issues, and food. I worked with the Brian Coyle Center in Cedar-Riverside and Campus Kitchens Augsburg to create a sustainable garden-to-plate curriculum for the summer youth program at Brian Coyle. Working with kids creates the opportunity to change households, as the kids bring back their knowledge to their parents. By including them in the process of growing and preparing the snacks they are served, the kids try more foods and learn about how to grow, harvest and prepare them.

Working in the Cedar-Riverside community was a wonderful experience. I learned a lot about what it takes to run an organization, and how to create programming that is not only useful now, but sustainable for years. My partner organizations allowed me to work independently, trusting my time management and ability to realize the project. The autonomy of the project taught me when to ask for help, how to do a different kind of research, and who can answer questions about an area of community work. I loved working with my organizations, and hope that the program I worked with will continue to expand and be successful.