The Justice Challenge completed its first year of a three-year US Department of Agriculture funded student enrichment program. At its core, the Justice Challenge allows Honors-qualified students from all academic backgrounds to gain experience in collaboration, systems thinking, and examining some of the world’s most complex and “wicked” problems. Dr. Radasanu is a member of the collaborative – including honors administrators and leaders of agricultural programs from 14 universities across the nation – that designed an innovative year-long program on food justice this past year. Year 2 kicks off this fall on the topic of climate justice, followed by year 3 on sustainable agriculture 2025-26. Learn more about this year, read here.
103 students from 21 higher education institutions (including 13 from NIU) participated in the inaugural Justice Challenge Colloquium on food justice. Students met online weekly for nine weeks to learn about food justice from content experts. Topics included food justice, health equity, indigenous food sovereignty in the western United States, food cultures and food geographies, sources andimpacts of inequities, food deserts, barriers to achieving food justice, and campus food insecurity. Students additionally participated in professional development activities – including a Reacting to the Past simulation about the debate over the usage of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Africa in the early 2000s. NIU students also completed some experiences at NIU, including volunteering for the Edible Campus. The common fall experience prepared students to participate in one of three spring signature experiences: a Hackathon, a Design Challenge, or a Field Course. NIU students participated in one of the hackathons or the field course.
Hackathon: Over the course of this 30-hour intensive experience, students from multiple universities were organized into teams to develop original solutions for an issue central to food justice. Participants in the first hackathon were challenged to address food insecurity in Toledo, OH, while students in the second hackathon were asked to examine food justice in New Brunswick, NJ. The top teams were awarded certificates to recognize their outstanding ideas. Four Honors students from NIU were recognized:
- Alexander Alvarenga, Marketing (3rd place)
- Adrian Hernandez, Business Administration (3rd place)
- Amanee Muhammad, Criminology (2nd place)
- Alexander Woltman, Biomedical Engineering (1st place)
Field Course: Students were immersed in a week-long exploration of food justice in Stillwater, OK, and surrounding communities. Students experienced the real-world constraints, opportunities, and realities of food justice from the expertise of field course coordinators and the lived experiences of local community members.
Emma Bell, Ava Divizio and Tyler Galbreath-Taylor participated in the field course. Emma Bell
encapsulated the experience: “We had an action-packed week of learning about the local area of Stillwater, what OSU is doing to address food justice, including their student gardens and wheat breeding programs, and how various groups across Oklahoma are working to alleviate food insecurity.”
Looking ahead to the fall semester, NIU students still have time to sign up! The Justice Challenge program for the 2024-2025 academic year is focused on Climate Justice. To learn more about The Justice Challenge program, please visit this website. If you are interested in participating in this experience, please complete the Participant Application and have a faculty or staff member fill out the Professional Reference Form. Finally, please reach out to TheJusticeChallenge@outlook.com or to Dr. Radasanu (aradasanu@niu.edu) if you have any questions.
