After
graduating from Hendrix College in 2016, and thanks to the generosity of the
Marshall Scholarship, I have been able to continue studying rural hunger and
poverty as a graduate student in Food Security and Development at the
University of Reading.
Much
like my time at Hendrix, going to graduate school in the United Kingdom has
given me the opportunity to explore not only the world around me, but my own
values and preconceptions. Much like at Hendrix College, my graduate coursework
at Reading has given me invaluable, inter-epistemic insights into the
relationship between the food system and our national and international methods
of governance. I am thankful to Hendrix College not only for giving me this
type of education during undergrad, but for preparing me for my post-graduate
studies, as well.
While
living in the United Kingdom, I have also been fortunate to travel extensively.
Within the United Kingdom, I have explored several areas within England, and
other member countries within the United Kingdom. Observing first-hand the similarities
and differences between British and American rural communities has been an
incredible opportunity. I have also been lucky to travel the European continent
for the first time, specifically to Poland, the Czech Republic, and Italy.
Because it has helped me to think more globally about my area of study, I hope
to continue my international travels in the coming months.
I've
also been involved outside the classroom while living in the United Kingdom. In
just a few short months, I have done research for a UK-based food bank
organization called The Trussell Trust and held internships at the National
Constitution Center in Philadelphia and Food Tank: the only global think tank
focused entirely on the study of the food system. These opportunities have also
given me a chance to explore the United Kingdom and to interrogate the United
States’ methods of anti-hunger policy more earnestly. If a liberal arts
education teaches you to successfully juggle fifteen items at one time, I have
surely learned that lesson well.
Thanks
to the generosity of the Marshall Scholarship, this dream-like situation of
living and studying in the United Kingdom will not end after my graduation from
Reading. Next year, I will complete a second MSc in Social Policy and Planning
at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). After I complete
my studies at LSE in the fall of 2018, I hope to work either at a foundation or
non-profit focused on hunger and poverty, before pursuing further study at an
American law school. I hope to use my graduate education as a tool for
eliminating hunger and poverty in Arkansas. But it is impossible for me to
imagine the opportunities I have had without having been first a student at
Hendrix College.
Thank
you, Hendrix Community.