Summer 2009 Food Justice Leaders and Interns

Collective Roots is supported by a small army of youth leaders and interns from universities far and wide. We will feature these amazing individuals on this page.

YOUTH LEADERS

Food Justice Leaders:

Six young people from San Mateo County have been chosen to work as Food Justice Leaders between June and August 2009. These students were chosen after a rigorous application process. They work part-time (15-20 hours per week), and are paid through a partnership with JobTrain's sponsored employment program. All youth leaders are involved in leadership training, field trips and community site visits. Click the names below or scroll down this page to read more about each of them.

Brandon Wilkerson
My name is Brandon T. Wilkerson. I attend Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto and will be a Junior this fall. It was through a Collective Roots volunteer opportunity with Eastside last February that I found out about this summer leadership program. I had a conversation with Eron at the end of the volunteer workday and began communicating with her via e-mail to make sure that I stayed in contact so that I could pursue this opportunity. Today, I am a Food Justice Leader in the Collective Roots leadership program and work out of the garden at East Palo Alto Charter School and also in the Palo Alto Farmers Markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Downtown area. Through the work that we do for the community whether it’s spreading knowledge about Food Justice or just dealing with various varieties of produce, it’s building on my character not only to be a leader in the community that I inhabit, but also to help lead others to do the same. I’m grateful for the opportunity provided for me through Collective Roots and look forward to the other discoveries within myself and my community as the summer goes on.

Rachel Valencia
My name is Rachel Valencia. I live in Menlo Park, California and attend Gunn High School in Palo Alto. I will be a junior this fall. I found out about this program by Eron’s presentation at a meeting at the Foundation for a College Education. I am a garden leader with the Food Justice Leaders for this summer. I help out by taking care of the garden by weeding, planting, harvesting, and watering. On Wednesdays I help out at the farmers market at Palo Alto City Hall, setting up, attending customers, and packing up. Saturdays in the mornings I help out Full Belly Farm’s stand at the Downtown Palo Alto Farmers Market. I have learned much about the food justice movement and how things work in the garden. I enjoy watching the plants that we plant grow. I hope to gain more knowledge on the food justice movement, farmers market, and gardening this summer.

Gracie Chapina
My name is Gracielita Chapina. I will be a senior at East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy. I was born and raised in East Palo Alto. I first heard about Collective Roots when Eron Sandler came in to my high school to speak about how Collective Roots connects to our community and the help it brings. This program caught my attention, not only because it has to do with East Palo Alto’s community, but because of the Collective Roots garden located at my old middle school, East Palo Alto Charter School, which I love being a part of to return what this middle school has done for me. I just can’t wait to see the students coming back to the school’s garden to see the improvements we have helped create.

Jaime Maldonado
My name is Jaime Maldonado. I am going to be a senior at EPA Phoenix Academy. This summer has been very interesting because most of the time I would just walk in the streets of Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, but now a big part of my time is spent working in this program called Food Justice Leaders with Collective Roots. I heard about this program through our counselor from my school and decided to join because it sounded very interesting and I knew that I would experience something new out of it. I’m a Food Justice Leader at the East Palo Alto community Farmer’s Market and it’s teaching me better ways to get out and communicate with others.

Daniel Noriega-Diaz
My name is Daniel Antonio Noriega-Diaz. I am going to be a sophomore at Eastside College Prep High School in East Palo Alto. I was raised in East Palo Alto but currently live in Menlo Park, California. I spend most of my time in East Palo Alto and I joined this program in order to make my time this summer a useful one. I heard about the Food Justice Leaders job opportunity and I decided to apply. I wanted to have a new experience and learn more a about food in my community. Hopefully the many people we meet and the trips we take will open many other doors to new paths in my life that will help me move along my path of success.

Epiffani McLemore Hampton
Have you ever imagined a place where you could find peaches so sweet that the sugar drips down your arm before you can catch it? Or a flower so sweet, the smell overwhelms you?

I no longer have to imagine finding that perfect peach or pretty petal in my own community! This summer I am honored to have been chosen a Food Justice Leader with Collective Roots. I look forward to increasing my knowledge of organic gardening, while helping my community gain greater access to wholesome, healthy food. I dream of opening my own Farmer's Market one day in the near future. I plan to have my own vegetable farm so I can grow produce for my market.

I grew up in East Palo Alto, but moved to Menlo Park earlier this year. I will attend Carlmont High school in the fall. I am enjoying the process of trying new things to enhance my life experiences and am exploring a variety of creative career paths and colleges.

I encourage young adults to seek out community service opportunities, to mentor younger members in the community, and to connect with Elders, in order to complete our community circle. I believe that only by completing this circle will our community grow and thrive. I am determined to help in the process!

Youth Health Advocate:

Aaminah Khan

My name is Aaminah Khan. I am a sophomore at Santa Clara University. I am majoring in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology along with a minor in Philosophy. One day I hope to become a surgeon or a psychiatrist. I applied to work with the Farmer’s Market and I was given the opportunity to work as a Youth Health Advocate. I became interested because this project has to do with the community that I am from, so I was very excited to be involved in something that can help the people I see every day. It is also helpful to gain insight into the public health aspect and to be an aid for this pioneering research.

SUMMER INTERNS

Collective Roots is thrilled to have a number of college interns joining the team for the summer of 2009! Our interns will have the opportunity to work on projects such as the Farmers Market, the Healthy Development Measurement Tool, on curricula and many other garden and food systems change projects! They will also work closely with the Food Justice Leaders.

I am Rylan Rosario. I am a third year health science major at San Jose State University. I was born and raised in San Jose. I just learned about Collective Roots this year. I applied for an internship with Health Career Connection. I had an interview with Wolfram and I was really excited about doing health research, working in the community and, being a mentor. In these next 10 weeks of my internship I hope to gain as much experience as I can in as many areas of public health as possible. I look forward to collecting health data and bringing social change for the betterment of the city of East Palo Alto.

Emily Viggiano
My name is Emily Viggiano. I am home for the summer after finishing my first year at Brown University, where I am a member of an 8-year combined undergraduate and medical school program. My undergraduate major is human biology, which involves a combination of biology classes and anthropology, public policy, and humanities classes related to human health. It was at Brown that I first learned about the food justice movement. The movement perfectly combines my interests in public health, the environment and community development; I'm really excited to work on it close to home this summer!

As a Palo Alto resident, I'm also excited to learn more about EPA's rich culture and history. In my experience, I've found that there is a deep divide between the East Palo Alto and Palo Alto communities. I believe that both communities would benefit from sharing friendships, ideas, and resources. I look forward to meeting with many of Collective Roots' partners throughout the area.

During my internship, I'm looking forward to learning more about growing food as I work in the garden. I hope to coordinate cooking classes and demonstrations for the community and for the school. I've been enjoying working with the Food Justice Leaders and hope to support their work and learn from them throughout the summer.

Jade Wang
My name is Jade Wang. I am a senior at Stanford majoring in Earth Systems, and I currently live in a cooperative house. I am originally from Oak Park, California. I am working with the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation and Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service through the East Palo Alto Social Venture Fellowship.

This summer, I hope to learn more about the East Palo Alto community, provide what support I can to Collective Roots, as well as gain a new perspective on my academic career through this in-field internship.

Collective Roots' mission is relevant to my academic interests - the environment, my hobbies - food, and my occupational interests - education. Food Justice in East Palo Alto is important to me because I think that access to quality, healthy food is a right that people do not have in a community close to my home. During my time with Collective Roots, I hope to aid in enhancing the garden-based educational program, particularly with regards to science-based curriculum, teach a few classes, and help with adult education at the Farmer's Market.

Allison Riemer
Hi, my name is Allison Riemer. I grew up in Half Moon Bay. I will be a senior at Occidental College in Los Angeles in the fall. My major is urban and environmental policy (UEP); UEP is a combination of politics, public policy, and geography. Through my summer internship at Collective Roots I hope to learn more about environmental education, public health, and nonprofit management. I am considering studying urban planning and/or public health in graduate school, and I want to learn more about potential post-school careers.

I am excited about the internship because I am interested in gardening, young people, and environmental justice. This summer I am interning with Collective Roots on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I will be helping with the East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market, among other projects.

Ginille Lazaro
Through completing a dual major in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and Human Biology, I had the opportunity to learn about and research the intersection of culture, race, class, faith, gender, and health. I concentrated my studies in public health and education in underserved communities; thus, affording me a broad spectrum understanding of health and wellness as it relates to diverse individuals and communities. I am strongly conscious of the critical issues in our healthcare system as they pertain to cultural sensitivity, healthcare disparities, and the need for service in the communities that face social injustices.

I have furthered my awareness on civic engagement and health issues through participating in various conferences and forums. Additionally my studies were advanced in the summer of 2008 when I interned with Ravenswood Family Health Center, a community health clinic in East Palo Alto. This summer, in addition to working with Collective Roots, I will be applying to nursing school to pursue my aspirations of becoming a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Jen Awakuni
I am from Honolulu, HI, and I recently graduated from Stanford University with an Honors Biological Science degree. I interned with Collective Roots for 30 hours in Spring 2009, for my Human Nutrition Class. I was responsible for documenting lessons for one of our K-5 garden-based learning after-school programs, Garden Club. Ten students, from 2nd through 5th grade, participated in Garden Club.

I used my documentation project to create 4 unique lesson plans that can be used in the future. I drew upon recipes that were prepared in class to create unique and fun lessons, adding background and context such as nutrition information, and how to grow specific recipe ingredients. I also created hand-drawn illustrations for each lesson plan. These lesson plans will be available on the Collective Root’s website shortly. I also assisted with Garden Club activities involving art projects, cooking and garden activities.

I have done a bunch of volunteering in the past, and Collective Roots was one of the most organized nonprofits that I have worked with. This experience not only taught me a lot about gardening and teaching, but helped me pursue one of the goals that I had upon volunteering there: to experience the many opportunities in nutrition. I like how Collective Roots sets clear goals, and is very welcoming and accommodating to their volunteers. I always felt like they wanted me to get the most out of working with them not the opposite. I highly recommended this organization to fellow classmates and to my professor at school.

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Summer 2009 Food Justice Leaders and Interns