We Are Knox...

You work part time as a sous chef at En Season Café, a restaurant that
builds its menu around locally produced food. How does that tie in with what you’d like to do in your post-Knox life?
It’s really going to help me, hopefully, achieve my future career in the culinary business. I want to go to culinary school after Knox, and I know I want to cook for the rest of my life.

This has changed my path from just wanting to be a cook to wanting to be able to cook sustainably and also support local communities. This place has really connected me to meeting the local farmers. They have so much care, they have so much passion for what they’re growing.

What have you learned so far in your independent study project -- setting up a food vendor’s booth at the Galesburg Farmers’ Market -- and what are some of your hopes for the project?
I’ve learned about perseverance and tolerance, being able to cope with difficulties. Starting a business is not going to be easy. You’ve got to learn to persevere through the tough times.

I hope to incorporate Knox College with my Farmers’ Market food stand, to bring more students to the Farmers’ Market. Their support would be a cool impact for the community, and it would also bring so much awareness to the students.

What's been memorable for you at Knox?
My (independent study) class right now with Nic Mink (in the Environmental Studies Department) has been a complete inspiration.

I was very intimidated with such a big project on my shoulders. I thought: This is going to be so hard for me to achieve. But he’s very easy to speak with, and he’s so reassuring. He’s a great moral support. Nic is a very motivating person. He does so many things, and he’s so diligent. I look up to him.

Why did you choose Knox?
I learned about it from my guidance counselor. I came to the Midwest, to Knox, because I knew it was a small school, and it was liberal arts, and I’d heard so many good things about it from people that went there and lived in Seattle, including a high school friend who was a year older (Aparna Kumar ’12).

What advice can you offer to high school students looking for a college?
I think if they’re looking for a college and they’re looking into Knox, they should speak to some of the students, especially seniors and juniors who have at least experienced two years here at Knox. Talk to them about what has inspired them here.

My passion was in food, and I never thought I would be able to pursue it here. But I was completely wrong. There are a lot of professors here who are also interested in food. They know a lot. I think that also goes for any passion that people have -- they can pursue it here at Knox.