2012 Leaders for Social Change Profiles
MATTHEW AGUILAR-CHAMPEAU ’14
Major: Sociology/Anthropology, Philosophy
Concentration: Film Studies
Internship Site: Summer PLUS (Nfld. Public Schools)
Position or role: Site Assistant; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
Summer PLUS is a program run through Northfield Public Schools aimed at helping at-risk youth from dropping out or failing their classes. This is done through a daily program that runs from Monday to Thursday in the summer in which students are engaged in activities that range from researching Greek mythology to playing kickball. I worked as a Site Assistant which was a position that saw me supervising the kids' activities in the afternoon.
ISAAC BURTON ’14
Major: Art and Graphic Design | Concentration: Management
Studies
Internship Site: Nfld. Health Comm Initiative & Nfld. Arts Guild
Position or role: ; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
Isaac Burton split his time in the LSC program between the Northfield Arts Guild (NAG) and the Healthy Community Initiative (HCI). At the Arts Guild, Isaac assisted in summer art classes, lead weekly children's activities, and created a video about a local theater program, Young Peoples Theater. At HCI Isaac partook in marketing and graphic design activities to help HCI get the word out on the great work they do for Northfield's youth. Isaac learned a lot about his career destiny and how he can best serve the community though his specific talents and skills.
KATIE BUSCH ’13
Major: Spanish and Studio Art | Concentration: Education
Internship Site: So How Are the Children (SHAC)
Position or role: ; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
So How Are the Children (SHAC) is a nonprofit based in Faribault, MN that focuses on youth needs and college access. I split my days at SHAC: in the mornings I would work in their office doing planning and facilitating for upcoming events, and during the afternoons I would do direct-service work during youth programming at Evergreen Estates and the 4 Seasons Neighborhood in Faribault. I created a new website for SHAC, revised their Board Policy Manual, recruited program participants, led art projects, and much more!
RYAN CAMPBELL ’13
Major: Political Science
Internship Site: Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy
Position or role: ; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
As a state public policy office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy in Minnesota (LCPPM) addresses biblical values such as concern for people living in poverty and struggling with hunger and disease, hospitality to strangers, and care for creation. I worked at LCPPM to support the work of the office, working with the state legislators, synods, or partner organizations around the state. I worked to contribute articles on events and responses for the office as well as do research for writings of the office. We attended meetings, conferences and for our final project worked to update and refine the hunger simulation named, 'Hunger 101.'
SALLY COLE ’13
Major: Sociology and Anthropology |
Concentration: Management Studies
Internship Site: Citizens League
Position or role: Pathways to Prosperity Intern; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
The Citizens League works to increase civic engagement in Minnesota by organizing citizens from all political parties and backgrounds to find solutions for Minnesota’s public issues. To educate the community they host policy series events and workshops in the areas of education, environment, health, poverty, etc. The League also develops civic leaders across all age groups. My work at the Citizens League focused on the Pathways to Prosperity Project, which is about helping low income citizens by shifting the focus from reacting to poverty to promoting prosperity. I set up and helped lead workshops on poverty, analyzed data gathered from votes at workshops, and compiled contacts and notes from 3 years of work on the Project. I had the chance to sit in on meetings about the project with community leaders, local organizations and government officials.
KATIE CRIDER ’13
Major: English | Concentration: Women’s Studies
Internship Site: Minnesota AIDS Project
Position or role: Public Policy Intern; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
HANA FERRONATO ’14
Major: Hispanic Studies |
Concentration: Environmental Studies
Internship Site: Northfield Community Action Center
Position or role: Client Services Intern; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
The CAC is a private, non-profit organization serving the greater Northfield area whose mission it is to promote a healthy, caring and just community for all people through resources, advocacy and volunteer effort. Services include efforts to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The CAC also provides crisis support, transportation, and services designed to facilitate neighbors serving neighbors. My work within the organization was primarily direct client service which involved listening to & addressing people's emergency needs. I spent time managing apps. for a kids' summer camp, attending meetings, staffing the Food Shelf, & volunteering at Thursday's Table. I was able to develop an independent project which explored and evaluated local employment services.
PATRICIA GARCIA ’13
Major: English and American Racial and Multi-Cultural Studies
Internship Site: Ashoka
Position or role: ; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
ANDI GOMOLL ’13
Major: American Studies and an Individually Designed CIS Major titled Growing Up in America
Internship Site: CURI- Research & Design for Sustainability Education at St. Olaf
Position or role: Co-researcher for the SustainAbilities program at St. Olaf; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
TYLER NIELSEN ’13
Major: Psychology | Concentration: Environmental Studies
Internship Site: CURI- Research & Design for Sustainability Education at St. Olaf
Position or role: ; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
Cont. from Andi's Bio Above... In the summer of 2012, Tyler, Andi & Lauren worked to lay the groundwork for SustainAbilities by developing a comprehensive website for the program, organizing and creating materials for 2012-2013 Sustainability Representatives, researching sustainability education at other institutions, and applying the lessons and context of readings and conversation to the marketing and design of SustainAbilities. Though the SustainAbilities research group was funded by CURI and the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, a connection with the LSC Program was invaluable--offering a diverse & motivated focus group to provide feedback on the project. Furthermore, LSC helped the SustainAbilities team to make connections to greater themes of significance, ethics, and the challenge of appealing to a nuanced audience.
TIM LILLEHAUGEN ’13
Major: Economics | Concentration: Environmental Studies
Internship Site: Transit for Livable Communities
Position or role: ; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
Transit for Livable Communities is a nonprofit org. working to transform MN's transportation system to strengthen community, improve health and opportunity for all people, foster a sound economy, and protect our natural resources. Through advocacy, organizing, and research, TLC promote a trans. sys. that encourages transit, walking, bicycling, & thoughtful development.
While at TLC I worked as a part of the federally funded Bike Walk Twin Cities pilot program which has been improving biking and walking infrastructure and education for the past 6 years. I helped with outreach to educate communities about the infrastructure changes and lifestyle changes that they could adopt. I helped to organize, promote and conduct public meetings about new sustainable transportation projects in the metro area. Finally, I helped with data analysis and writing of policy briefs and blogs about the availability of alternative transportation options in the Twin Cities.
LOVE ODETOLA ’14
Major: Biology | Concentration: Biomedical Studies
Internship Site: Minnesota Internship Center Charter School
Position or role: Student Support Services Advocate; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
Minnesota Internship Charter High School (MNIC) is an alternative school that targets low-income youth who have dropped out of “regular” high schools. MNIC recruits its students from the streets, thus establishing a positive relationship with the students even before they enroll at the school. MNIC creates individualized programs based on graduation-standard classes and diverse learning experiences. During my time at MNIC, I was involved in direct work with about 22 low-income African American youth and completed two projects. The hands-on experience consisted of tutoring, mentoring, college and career advocacy and a research project on the effects of smoking on a developing fetus. During my extensive interactions with the students, I also learned a wealth about their culture and lifestyle.
BRYNN RATHJEN ’13
Major: Psychology |
Concentration: Women's Studies
Internship Site: HealthFinders Collaborative
Position or role: Wellness Program Coordinator; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
HealthFinders Collaborative is a non-profit organization working to ensure quality health care for the whole community. HealthFinders Collaborative does this through patient advocacy, primary care services, medication assistance and wellness programming. The wellness programs include the Diabetes program, Comadres (a pregnancy prevention program) and Pura Vida. I worked specifically with Pura Vida, which offers classes to facilitate healthy lifestyles through exercise, nutrition and stress management information. My duties included leading classes, organizing and facilitating volunteers to lead classes, creating and distributing publicity, and general communications. I also created a comprehensive handbook for future Pura Vida coordinators and interns in order to provide greater program stability.
ZOEY SLATER ’14
Major: English and American Studies
Internship Site: Citizens League
Position or role: Communications and Marketing Intern; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
The Citizens League is a nonprofit, member based organization that works with people from all parties and ideologies to come up with policy solutions for Minnesota's toughest challenges. It focuses on a number of issues including health care, education, transportation, and energy, engaging members through policy events to offer input and suggestions for improvement. Along with encouraging civic involvement, the Citizens League also works to educate Minnesotans on important policy issues through their bimonthly publication, The Minnesota Journal, online forums, and workplace leadership programs. I worked with the Communications Manager and board to evaluate how the public sees the Citizens League to improve how it communicates its message to the public.
BEN TAYLOR ’13
Major: Environmental Studies, Sociology, Anthropology
Internship Site: Lutheran Coalition for Public Policy
Position or role: Public Policy Intern; Twin Cities House
Poster for final LSC presentation
LCPPM is uniquely positioned to address critical and at times polarizing issues from nonpartisan, theological, ethical, and practical perspectives. LCPPM engages people of faith by: Networking, Educating & Advocating.
This summer I was tasked with creating a more comprehensive program for our hunger awareness simulation, "Hunger 101", and with mobilizing our network to first support an EPA ruling on coal plants and then to oppose the severe nutrition cuts in the House version of the Farm Bill. I participated in numerous planning meetings with congregations around MN to help them plan fall events centered around either hunger in Minnesota or current env. issues that Luth. cong. are uniquely able to address. Finally, I worked with several other MN env. non-profits to help design & coordinate upcoming events ranging from cand. ed. to a statewide tour focusing on clean energy & how a changing climate will impact policy in MN.
GABRIEL TREJOS ’14
Major: Economics and Environmental Studies |
Concentration: Management Studies
Internship Site: Nfld. Area Rural-Urban Econ. Analysis project (NARUE) & Rural Enterprise Ctr.
Position or role: Economic Analyst (NARUE) & Grow a Farmer Assistant (REC); Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
The Nfld. Area Rural-Urban Economic Analysis project (NARUE) aims to raise awareness of the agriculture sector’s econ. contribution on Nfld’s urban economy. Using GIS software, my work consisted of compiling asset-based info. on the agricultural land of the Nfld. region. The Central Valley Coop was used as a case study to demonstrate the interdependency of the urban and agriculture sector. In this study, I concluded that the agriculture sector has a real, tangible and measurable impact on Nfld’s urban economy. The Rural Enterprise Center (REC) is a program of the Main Street Project that focuses on enterprise deve. The REC strengthens communities by bringing together the support infrastructure, systems, resources & programs that rural ent. need to succeed. I was an assist to the “Grow a Farmer” agripreneur training. I helped build chicken coops, which will allow the graduates of the “Grow a Farmer” program to learn and practice.
KATIE WESTWOOD ’13
Major: Social Work and Spanish
Internship Site: CURI- Exploring the Development of Social Capital in Local Communities
Position or role: ; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
Katie Westwood '13, with Stephanie Villarreal '13 and Professor Devyani Chandran,
evaluated Growing Up Healthy's programs directed at building social capital in the Latino
and Somali communities of Northfield and Faribault. Interviews with community leaders
and focus groups with program participants were conducted, recorded, transcribed, and
analyzed. Findings and a general evaluation were disseminated through a presentation to
the Growing Up Healthy Board of Directors, LSC poster presentation, and a CURI/McNair
poster session.
HILARY ZANDER ’13
Major: Biology and Sociology/Anthropology
Internship Site: Economic Impact of the Arts with Riverwalk Market Fair
Position or role: Economic Impact of the Arts Intern; Northfield House
Poster for final LSC presentation
The Riverwalk Market Fair is an art fair and farmers' market that takes place every Saturday from early June to late October in downtown Northfield. For the past three years, the Riverwalk Market Fair has been a gathering place for the Northfield community to shop, listen to musical entertainment, and visit with one another. One of the Riverwalk Market Fair's goals is to promote the event outside of Northfield to attract nonlocals to shop at the Fair. As the economic impact of the arts intern, my main project was to distribute surveys to visitors at the Fair to analyze their impact on Northfield's economy. In addition to this project, I initiated a project to attract visitors at the Riverwalk Market Fair to shop in downtown Northfield businesses and implemented an event for children at the Fair, which focused on nutrition and healthy eating.