Celebrating 10 Years of the Fellows Program: Autumn Rauchwerk

Autumn Rauchwerk
Fellow from January 2015 to June 2016, based in Portland/Eugene

(Then) Bon Appétit campus attended: American University

Current job: Graduate student at Columbia University’s Teachers College, studying nutrition and exercise physiology, and yoga teacher

Skill/wisdom you gained from the Fellowship: To accept feedback as an opportunity for growth and not always expecting myself to be perfect. Valuing the importance of understanding all sides of a situation, and how challenging facilitating progress can be within a system.

Did the Fellowship shape your career choices? It reinforced my love of being an educator,public speaking, and how much I thrive off of influencing people directly.

Memorable experience as a Fellow: Pretty much anything involving the team at Reed College, especially our tour of Flamingo Ridge Farm and dinner prepared on the farm.

Advice for current food-activist students: Don’t try to do things perfectly, work on starting somewhere, anywhere, and then building from there. Things will feel wildly imperfect and maybe even like failures, but every bit of change is progress, and every step is a learning experience.

Read more Fellows 10th Anniversary interviews: