Middlebury FoodWorks is a nine-week cohort fellowship program for students interested in local food and sustainable development, currently operating in Louisville, Kentucky and Addison County, Vermont. Its mission is to provide summer experiential opportunities that enhance student learning and engagement in food studies. Each student takes a for credit course on food systems and works four days a week in a paid internship focused on a different aspect of the food system. On the fifth day, students participate together in a curriculum designed to meet targeted learning objectives on sustainable agriculture and ecology; food systems; community and economic development; nutrition and health; and other topics such as food security and justice, policy, culture and traditions. In addition to the 5th day component, students read texts, participate in cross-site discussions over videoconference, post and respond to reflections on this blog, and pursue an independent “Food Challenge” project, further reinforcing and integrating their learning. Students also have formal and informal opportunities to engage in the community around food throughout their summer. Middlebury FoodWorks was piloted in Louisville in 2012, and expanded to include our Vermont partners in 2013. FoodWorks will expand to California and Washington, D.C. in 2015.
Each summer students are working to address microenterprise and economic development; education, health,and nutrition; food production, processing, and distribution; food access, safety and security; food equity and social justice; sustainable agriculture; and food policy and research.
Middlebury FoodWorks builds on the advantages of a liberal arts education—providing students with a broad and well-informed perspective on issues, along with the tools to make connections and find creative solutions to problems—and applies it to cultivating students’ interest in food studies. The goal is to guide and assist them as they explore a particular passion, while preparing them to be leaders in the field or any other they might eventually choose. To do it within the framework of a summer work/living experience adds greater value as students develop personal and professional skills and dispositions that further prepare them for life and career.
What is Middlebury FoodWorks?
- Meaningful four-day/week internships with a company or organization working on developing the local food economy in Louisville and in and around Addison County, Vermont.
- Minimum-wage based stipend for 9 weeks of work. The program dates are from Sunday, June 15 to Friday, August 15, 2014.
- High content curriculum, including “Fifth Day” presentations and projects, relating to the local food system and economic development.
- Mentoring by Middlebury alumni and parents.
- Profound personal engagement among interns, members of the local food sector, and the community.
Benefits to Middlebury students?
- Paid internship opportunity, with housing provided
- The chance to touch, taste and work with all aspects of the local food movement.
- A comprehensive view of the local food system and its role in urban and rural economic development, including direct contact with movers and shakers in the field.
- Participating in a learning community around food studies, as students live and participate together.
- An on-line component that allows FoodWorks Fellows to connect across sites and compare their rural and urban food systems experiences.