Senior Project - Connecting St. Olaf and the Agripreneur Training Center

During my senior year at St. Olaf I became aware of a proposed local project called the Agripreneur Training Center. The ATC is a proposed farm, school and agricultural incubator being started by the Rural Enterprise Center (a local non-profit organization). The project will address environmental and social justice issues on a local level by training low-income and especially latino families to start businesses in small scale organic farming. It will be a two year program for 12-24 families and at the culmination of the programs the ATC will assist in locating land for the participants to launch entreprenurial ventures. This project opens up important opportunities for St. Olaf students and faculty and both the ATC and St. Olaf college would benefit greatly from academic cooperation.

The core work of my senior project was to help establish a relationship between St. Olaf College and the Rural Enterprise Center/Agripreneur Training Center. In cooperation with Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin and Kris Estenson, I helped create a proposal for the use of St. Olaf agricultural land for the ATC. This proposal is currently being considered by the President’s Cabinet. I also coordinate the introduction of the project to the St. Olaf and Northfield communities through a community presentation and forum that took place on April 16, 2009. This project served as a capstone to my major because it allowed me to explore the resources needed for a person to create and live within an ecologically sustainable community. It will concentrated on food systems, green jobs and the creation of a locally based and healthy economy. Through working on this project I learned a great deal about the opportunities within entreprenurship to creating lasting solutions to enviornmental problems. I also developed the skills needed to facilitate work between non-profits, entrepreneurs and education institutions, like St. Olaf College.

See my senior project proposal here.

Check out some of the possible benefits to St. Olaf here.