Meet Sophie Senning,  AmeriCorps member at The University of Akron and LeaderCorps member for the SRC, and read about how she’s addressing food insecurity for students and growing UA’s Campus Garden.

To me, service is more than a position. It means being an active part of my community and doing what I can to help those around me. Helping your friend, neighbor, or classmate is all service.

Through serving with the ZipAssist Campus Cupboard, I have had the opportunity to work with a diverse population of students to help address food insecurity on campus.  A big part of my service has been helping expand Cupboard programs such as the Campus Cupboard and Campus Community Garden. The Cupboard has a central staffed walk-in location as well as six “grab-n-go” locations around campus for students who don’t have the time or the need to come to our walk-in location. Since starting my service, we have expanded our grab-n-go locations to two more buildings on campus!

I’ve also been able to help with our Campus Garden. Built over summer 2022 in partnership with students from the campus Urban Agriculture club, the garden provides a community space for students with produce going to the Campus Cupboard. In just the Fall semester, we grew over two thousand items of produce!

As the Student Resource Center program’s LeaderCorps member, I am working with the other AmeriCorps members in my program to implement a meal kit service project on their campuses. The project will help address food insecurity by providing a meal kit to students and helping promote awareness of the services offered by their Student Resource Center. 

About Sophie:

Sophie is a 3rd year cybersecurity student at The University of Akron. Her pastimes include reading, hiking, and playing arcade games. She is passionate about serving her campus community and loves connecting people to the resources they need. Sophie is the diversity chair of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Union of Akron (LGBTUA) and is proud to help provide a community space for all students under the LGBTQ+ spectrum. She is also the treasurer of Pride in STEMM on her campus and helps provide professional development and career education opportunities to queer students. Sophie assists students through her campus’ Campus Cupboard program specifically in the new initiatives with the Campus Garden and Roo-Store. She also organizes volunteer events through both these new programs and general cupboard operations. Through her work with these programs the Campus Cupboard is able to offer garden fresh produce, general household items, and impactful volunteer opportunities to support students in their basic needs.Meet all of our AmeriCorps members by visiting our AmeriCorps page!