Q&A with Project Host Intern Haley Hopkins

Haley Hopkins is a sustainability science major at Furman University. She’s a rising junior with a passion for food sovereignty and food justice. Haley entered Furman wanting to be a psychology major, but after taking an environmental science class, she fell in love and continued down that path.

“I liked applying the things that I learned in environmental science. Here’s the problem and let’s fix it. I also like that there are so many sides to sustainability. There’s the obvious environmental side, but there are also the social and justice sides that are really important.”

We sat down with Haley to learn more about what brought her to Project Host and what she’s learned during her time here. Haley has had the opportunity to work across all six of our programs during her summer internship.

How did you learn about Project Host and what drew you to our organization?

I learned about Project Host through the Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities at Furman. The institute partners with a bunch of sustainable businesses in the area and connects students with internships. We get a list of different places every year and what they do and are looking for in interns.

Project Host is the one that sparked my interest because everything gets done right here. You’ve got the sustainability part in the back with the garden. You take the food right from there to the Soup Kitchen. It’s nice to see each part of that process—the environmental sustainability and food sovereignty part.

What’s been the best part of your experience here?

Definitely the atmosphere. Everyone here is very caring and open. It makes you want to come to work and makes it a place you want to spend your time and put all that you’ve got into it.

Working with volunteers has been amazing. They are absolutely astonishing. It’s crazy that this garden is built just from them working. Everything was here and planted when I got here, so I’m just maintaining. The fact that they have built this with volunteer hours without expecting a paycheck or waiting on some other payoff, but just doing this out of the kindness of their hearts is absolutely amazing. They work so hard, and I’m very grateful for them.

What have you learned through your work at Project Host?

For one, it’s helped me figure out that, yes, this is the kind of work that I want to do. There’s always that uncertainty where you think there’s a line of study or work you want to pursue, but you’ve never actually done it. Now that I have, I feel confident that this is the type of place where I want to work.

Working at Project Host has given me a lot of people skills as well. It’s also fostered some great connections. For example, through our recent nutrition courses with Cooking for Kids groups out in the garden, I got to meet and talk to almost all of the Clemson SNAP-Ed staff.

What recommendations or ideas do you have for PH?

I wish we could figure out a way to physically bring people in need here. When I go home every day, I see people and areas that are clearly in need of the kinds of services Project Host offers. I wish there was a way we could do more community outreach to people who need our services.

What’s the plan for you when you return to Furman?

I have two more years, and I hope to come back to a place similar to this. I definitely want to stay in the field and spend some time abroad in the sustainability field. They do sustainability (in every aspect, including welfare programs) better than we do now, so it would be nice to learn from countries who have it under control and bring some of that back here.