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Sustainably Built

Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ students aren’t good at sitting around in their rooms. Part of what really seems to make Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ their home-away-from-home is the secondary places they call home when they are here. For Justine Vandenberg, a Lilly Scholar and native of Danville, Indiana, that place is Ä¢¹½´«Ã½’s Ullem Campus Farm, the twelve-acre property just west of campus. 

The Ullem Campus Farm was one of the biggest reasons I came to Ä¢¹½´«Ã½,” says Vandenberg. “I grew up in a rural area and had a background in sustainable agriculture and organic farming. The Ullem Farm stood out when I was comparing other institutions across the country and in Indiana. I wanted to continue to expand my passion for agriculture, food and environmental issues,” she adds. That decision shaped her choice of major, her on-campus activities, her relationships and her vision for the future. 

Finding Your Fit

For Vandenberg, Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ offered something unique. “I was able to build an academic curriculum, practical experiences and applied work outside the classroom, which let me explore my interdisciplinary interests,” she says. This included writing and leadership. “I actually came in as a writer and intended English major, but ended up being a Global Health major with an emphasis in sustainability and environmental public health. I kept writing. And taking English classes and it really clicked during my senior year that I wanted to combine my environmental health science with my skills as a communicator.” 

Finding a Mentor

Vandenberg’s mentorship began before she arrived on campus. As a high school senior, she met Ä¢¹½´«Ã½’s director of sustainability, professor Jeane Pope, on a campus visit. That encounter motivated her to pursue entry into the Environmental Fellows Program and to take Pope’s first-year seminar on sustainability. She then worked with Pope as her first adviser to design her curriculum and to think about her personal growth and development.

“Dr. Pope was a friendly face before I enrolled,” she says. “Having her as a mentor has been special. Not only did she help me get into the right classes and help me build my knowledge, she saw me as a whole person and helped me grow personally and in leadership. That’s been transformative.” 

Building a Future

Sustainability has been a cornerstone of Vandenberg’s time at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½. She co-founded a new student organization, Students for Sustainability Action, that promoted sustainable practices and policies across campus, including in the dining and residence halls. She was also a farmhand at the Ullem Campus Farm, a sustainability intern with the university and, as a senior, the Student Executive Director of Sustainability. She sees this trend continuing, but in ever more creative ways.  

Inspired by the work of Rachel Carson, she took every writing course she could and is now working on a novel she describes as “an eco-dystopian work of fiction that uses storytelling to defamiliarize everyday things we take for granted and highlight environmental issues.“ She’s also thinking about environmental nonprofit advocacy work and graduate school in the future.  

Vandenberg sums her Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ experience up this way. “Campus has been a living laboratory for me — academically, personally and professionally. The combination of the Environmental Fellows Program, my Global Health major, the Ullem Campus Farm, student leadership and the arts has given me an interdisciplinary education and helped me figure out how I want to contribute to the world.”  

Hometown: Danville, Indiana
Major: Global Health
Activities: Environmental Fellows, Students for Sustainability Action