Student Profile: Madeline Hennessey
Perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of the Chatham experience is the community. In such unprecedented times, I (Abigail Kneuss ‘23), have become increasingly grateful for this community and its members. In an effort to showcase just a few of these great people, I’ll be doing a series of student interviews in the coming weeks. These highlights are for students, about students, and by students. This week features Madeline Hennessey ‘22.
Not only is Madeline a Sustainability and Women’s & Gender Studies double-major, she’s also a gardener, researcher, archer, social activist, and bread maker. Learn more about her and how she plans to use the fusion of her passions to build a greener and more equitable future below!
Madeline Hennessey ‘22
Q: Why did you decide to come to Chatham and study Sustainability and Women’s & Gender Studies?
A: I was just really impressed with all of the opportunities to make an impact on this campus. Sustainability and the environmental sciences have always been an interest of mine, but I wanted a program that was more holistic and included the humanity aspects like climate change, and I found it here. My Women’s and Gender Studies major is pretty new. I was inspired to take it on after having Queer Theory with Dr. Reznik last semester.
Q: What have you been involved with here at Chatham?
A: I’m part of the Bonner’s Leaders Program. It’s a program that allows students who are eligible for federal work-study to be placed in a local non-profit and serve their hours there. I’ve been serving at Coro Pittsburgh throughout my time here where I work on projects involving community outreach and help with recruitment for the program. I’m also involved with the intergroup dialogue program here at Chatham. I facilitated a class last semester on gender and worked with Kelly Henderson [Eden Hall K-12 Education Coordinator & Sustainability Leadership Academy Director] over the summer with programming for a white educator group on how they can make their classrooms more anti-racist. Additionally, I work as a garden assistant in the agroecology demonstration garden at Eden Hall.
Q: Can you tell me more about that work?
A: The ADG is a bio-intensive market garden in which we try to use ecosystem services to benefit our growing production. The food that we produce is primarily for those who work for the garden, those on-campus in the dining hall, and for use in the Fermentation Club. This semester we’re really hoping to amp up our shared community meals for the garden team as we weren’t able to do so in the past months because we were trying to figure out a safe way to do so with COVID-19.
Q: How do you feel COVID-19 has impacted your life and studies?
A: I was originally supposed to study abroad in Costa Rica this summer, but that was canceled. Luckily, I was able to take up a research assistant position with [faculty member] Chris Murakami studying soil health and garden bed construction in Elsama, another garden at Eden Hall. We researched how to maximize our production of produce there and did a lot of labor in the garden digging soil and constructing beds. It really changed my perspective on what I thought I wanted to do and my goals for the future.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: I’m really interested in traveling once it is safe to do so, but right now I’m really focused on staying local and addressing the issues we face at home. As far as careers go, thankfully both of my majors allow for a wide array of options. I’m particularly interested in public policy, advocation work, and social justice. My plan is to eventually start my own market garden to support regional food systems.
Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of your studies?
A: I started an archery club here on campus last semester. I’m really looking to get it vamped up this semester. Meetings will be held from 12-3 at Eden Hall and people of any level of skill are welcome to join! I am also involved with the bread oven here on campus. I’m interested in queering the art of bread making. I made a pamphlet in my queer theory class that I plan on printing and putting around Pittsburgh that addresses making bread as a form of patience, self-care, and resistance to capitalism.