Meet the members of our group!
Hi! My name is Jessica. You can call me Jess. I’m currently a third year in the dietetics program at UBC. As you might be able to guess from my major, I want to become a registered dietitian. Today’s society is filled with so much misinformation regarding “good” foods, “bad” foods, diets, ideal body images, and so on and so forth that it’s no wonder people are overwhelmed and confused. That’s why as a RD (to be), I have long term goals in community nutrition, increasing and developing the public’s awareness and knowledge of what healthy eating/living means and helping them distinguish fact from fiction. My target group of interest is youth and adolescents…so a dream position would look something along the lines of working with children and teaching them about mindful eating, enjoying a wide variety of foods, and staying active – basically empowering them to be their best selves! In my down time, you can find me in the kitchen; I am a self-proclaimed “foodie” and enjoy experimenting with new ingredients and recipes as well as eating all kinds of food (the more exotic, the better). This year, I have even attempted gardening on my balcony…so far I have tomatoes, oregano, rosemary, and basil! I don’t really know what to expect for our community project but I am anxious to get started and hopeful about making a positive impact in our community!
My name is Selina, I am
currently pursuing my undergraduate degree in nutritional science. I’ve chosen nutritional science because of my overwhelming passion for nutrition. In my spare time, I enjoy volunteering with local community and recreational centres to promote the idea of a healthy lifestyle – whether that means eating healthy or getting enough exercise. I believe that not enough emphasis has been put on the well-being of individuals, so education leading to healthy eating and frequent exercise should be the first step. When I’m not learning at school or volunteering, you can find me in the middle of the woods or travelling to new places. I love to explore different cultures, traditions, and of course food! This community project will definitely involve me thinking deep about how to engage in and enhance a local community’s way of living.
Hi there! My name is Matthew Godinez and I am a third-year student in the Applied Biology program in the faculty of Land and Food Systems. Specifically, I am in the Food and Environment program within Applied Biology and hopefully become an agroecologist one day. I am passionate about urban farming, sustainable food systems and sustainable agriculture. I hope to bring awareness to an ever changing world that we cannot continually use Earth’s resources as if it were an unlimited vending machine. My goal is to be able to answer this question: “How can we increase food production, without destroying more of our environment, with a human population that is growing exponentially”. Other passions of mine include photography, hiking, spending time with family and friends, and playing sports such as ice hockey and volleyball. I am excited about LFS 350 and what it has to teach us about food systems, food security and other food-related topics that greatly impact our lives everyday.
Hi! My name is Rebecca. I’m a third year student majoring in food market analysis. I grew up in China, but I’ve been living in Vancouver for the past five years. Everything about food and nutrition interests me and to be able to integrate that with my knowledge in food market analysis is my dream come true. My goal is to apply the principles of economics and business management to get an effective understanding of food markets. Specifically, I want to help with the food safety issue in China. Food safety has become an issue of great concern in China over the last few years. I believe it is important to raise public awareness about nutrition and health; at the same time, food producers ranging from individual farmers to corporate executives should all adopt business ethics and place health and safety before profits. In my free time, I like to travel and try new foods around the world. I am looking forward to this course because it is a good way to learn from community and make some positive impacts on our community.
Hi! My name is Chujing and I am originally from Guangzhou, China. I transferred from Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey and am now a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Food, Nutrition and Health. I am a cat lover and I have two lovely domestic short-hair tabbys! My motto is eat well, learn well, and live well. I love cooking and baking, especially Asian cuisine. No matter how busy I am, I try my best to cook and eat at home rather than dine out. There are so many benefits of cooking at home. For example, people can take better control of the portion size and the ingredients they put into their meals. Also, in this way, your diet does not have to depend on what is available around. I believe that good eating and healthy lifestyle habits established early in life will play a key role in influencing peoples’ food-related thinking and behaviour. For the past two years, I’ve assisted with nutrition education workshops at a elementary school and volunteered for the BC Dairy Association. I really enjoy interacting with kids and youth, so I envision a career in education post graduation. Our LFS 350 community project ties with my interests in food security and food sovereignty. Because The Hastings-Sunrise community has a large population of Asians, language barrier presents as a huge problem for participation in community garden initiatives. Since I can speak both Cantonese and Mandarin, I am excited to see if I can help our partner connect to more residents in the community.
My name is Christella. I was born and raised in Indonesia, but I have also lived in Singapore and Shanghai prior to coming to UBC and pursuing my degree in Food Market Analysis. Being a part of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems has given me the opportunity to develop different perspectives with regards to current global food issues. My goal is to be able to contribute towards improving our food systems by making healthy food accessible to everybody living in different parts of the world. LFS 350 will be a good starting point as I will get a chance to learn and work with the local community in building food security for the citizens. I hope that one day I will be able to work in the Department of Sustainable Project Development with the United Nations to solve issues in developed and developing countries and create positive impacts to the society.