Name Class Standing Term
Meghan M. O’Kelley SO Spring 2017
Program Title Project Title Mode
Student-Originated Studies: Commodification Processes and Alternatives Flavor and Function: A Historical and Cultural Exploration of Food Undergraduate In Program Individual Learning Contract
Credits Sponsor Name  Subcontractor Name
16 Sarah Williams  Connor Murphy, Kaila Knight

Description

The student will explore the history and cultural implications of different foods and their origins due to their flavor (sensory enjoyability) or function (value to the society at a given point in history) through week-long projects intended to provide a baseline knowledge of different fields of food studies to inform future research and share learning. The student will document this work through an online WordPress e-journal and weekly project write-ups. Additionally, the student will work with other students on a project to rehabilitate Evergreen’s herb garden and document the content of the garden and process online. The student will also post updates to Patrick Merscher’s NOVIC Tomato Trial on their WordPress e-journal. Finally, the student will participate in weekly class meetings, seminars, writing assignments, and bi-weekly presentations to the class on the current status of the student’s project.

Learning Objectives Activities that will help me to attain this objective What my sponsor will evaluate
I will attend weekly class meetings on Tuesdays, participate in seminar and the associated writing assignments, present the current status of my project, and document my work through my WordPress e-journal. I will attend each class meeting, I will complete seminar writing assignments, and will share the status of my project with the class through videos, visual aides, and exploration of my online blog. My sponsor will evaluate attendance, turned in work, and class presentations, as well as the work published on my blog.
I will post the updates sent to me by Patrick Merscher on the NOVIC Tomato Trial on my WordPress e-journal to document the progress of the project. I will communicate with Patrick weekly, as well as visiting the Organic Farm to view the progress and take photos when useful. I will also format Patrick’s weekly updates into blog posts for the NOVIC Trial section of my e-journal. My sponsor will evaluate the quality of the posts and the final outcome of the e-journal documentation of the trial.
I will create week-long projects to explore and discover the historical and cultural implications of different foods, as demonstrated in Thomas Jefferson’s Créme Brûlée by Thomas J. Craughwell. Other text will include Founding Foodies by Dave DeWitt, Food Fights & Culture Wars by Tom Nealon, and What Our Ancestors Ate and Why it Matters: 100 Million Years of Food by Stephen Le. I will create a weeklong plan for each week of the quarter during which I will have the opportunity to explore a single food (or single aspect or component of a food) and prepare finished writing and/or videos to share with the class and post to my website. Each project will have a hands-on cooking or tasting component, as well as scholarly work and possible consultation with field experts. My sponsor will evaluate my final conclusions on each project as documented in writing on my WordPress e-journal and the YouTube videos I create, which will also be posted to my website.
I will work with a group of other students to rehabilitate Evergreen’s Elizabethan herb garden to allow us to eventually dry herbs, package teas, and sell our products at the Evergreen farm stand. I will spend several hours each week working in the garden, plus additional time working with other students to develop an online book documenting our work and the plants we use in the garden. I will help out with group workshops and assist in the planning and execution of any work needed.  My sponsor will evaluate the book of plant information uploaded to my website at the end of the quarter, as well as reviews from Connor Murphy of the quality of the Herb Garden and Kaila Knight on my assistance throughout the quarter.

Evaluation of Work

  • Narrative evaluation from sponsor
  • Narrative self-evaluation from student
  • The student will complete all assignments as described on the syllabus, including weekly documentation on the Project pages of the SOS program website.  Whenever possible, the student will provide the faculty with a field supervisor, subcontractor, or mentor’s descriptive assessment of in-program ILC work completed with their guidance, expertise, or supervision by week 10. The student will complete comprehensive mid-quarter and final narrative self-evaluations and submit them to faculty prior to mid-quarter and final end of quarter student-faculty conferences.  For the final blog post on Project websites, each student will post, and when possible present in class on Tuesday of week 10, a 10-minute PowerPoint Presentation of 10-15 slides with text that demonstrates the highlights of the student’s in-program ILC Project website.

Faculty Support

The student will attend weekly class meetings on Tuesdays and update the class on their work every other week with a powerpoint of knowledge accumulated. The student will also communicate with their professor(s) by email if additional support is needed. Weekly blog updates may be evaluated by the professor to determine if work is satisfactory.

Related Experience

I spent the previous quarter in Sarah Williams’ SOS: Commodification Processes and Alternatives. I explored the field of food studies, critical eating studies, and the socio-cultural impacts of food, eating, and farm work. We read such texts as Kyla Tompkins’ Racial Indigestion, Kara Newman’s The Secret Financial Life of Food, and many other texts. I also pursued an in-program ILC exploring conscious eating and nutritional herbalism.

Mid-Quarter Self-Evaluation

Read here.

Final Presentation

Found here as a Google Document

Or as a PDF:

Spring 2017 Final Presentation

Final Self-Evaluation

Read here.