Fall intern joins the team

My name is Jamie Oriol and I am one of GardenShare’s fall interns! Growing up in the suburban town of West Hartford, Connecticut, my interest in food systems really began when I signed up for the Sustainability Semester my freshman year at St. Lawrence. Through this experience, I began to learn about the large disconnect between so many Americans and their food source. Now a senior, I have become aware of the struggle people in poverty face trying to purchase healthy food, the lack of education of many Americans in how to prepare healthy food and where food comes from, and the many roadblocks created through policy that make it difficult to change the system. I believe that the food system in America, as well as people’s relationship with their food, needs to change, and I believe that organizations such as GardenShare are the way to help bring that change. For this reason, I am extremely excited to join the GardenShare team this fall.

                For a little information about myself, I am a huge fan of anything outdoors. In my free time you can often find me hiking, running, or swimming. I absolutely LOVE eating so I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen attempting to cook. Although I’m not a great baker and do not like to follow instructions, I make up for it with my determination and am always up to make a fresh batch of cookies (as long as I can eat some). 

            If I were a superhero, I would without a doubt want to have the power to fly. This is because of the feeling of freedom that comes with this and the chance to see the world from a new angle. 

            I’d say my most recent accomplishment is becoming captain of the St. Lawrence field hockey team this year and I cannot wait to see how the season turns out!

If I could do anything, I would want to own a blueberry farm. Not only are blueberries the most delicious berry out there, in my opinion of course, but they also have so many uses! I would love to sell fresh blueberries, frozen blueberries, blueberry jams, blueberry deserts, and anything else that could possibly be made with blueberries. Blueberries make me happy and I’d love to help other people experience the same joy.  Other than blueberries, I also like to read. 

My favorite book for the last 3 years has been Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. I do not want to give anything away, but this book really helped opened my mind to the inequalities experienced by millions of people around the world as a result of globalization. It has a beautiful message and is an extremely worthy read. This book makes you think about how privileged Americans are just to be born into a developed country that has a system in place to protect its people with clean drinking water, welfare, and other government aid.

If anyone would like to learn any more fun facts about myself, talk about blueberries, or talk about issues surrounding America’s food system, I would love to hear from you! Looking forward to a great semester!

-Jamie