Student Profiles
Student: Quinn Wrenholt
School: University of St. Thomas
Major/Minor: Environmental Studies and Spanish double major, with minors in Psychology and Business
HECUA Program: Environment & Agriculture: Sustainable Food Systems
Who is Quinn Wrenholt?
I was born and raised in small town Missouri. I was an imaginative child and intelligent child with a particular affinity with building forts. At the age of 6, my family and I moved to Chanhassen, Minnesota where we have lived ever since. I have always enjoyed playing outside and getting dirty. I also have always loved to learn and to make the people around me happy.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
For a long time, I wanted to be a toy maker. I liked to build things with legos and other materials and I really enjoyed working with tools with my dad. Also, from a young age I have aspired to be the best dad of all time.
Who or what has been influential in your life?
I have had the privilege of being raised by great parents in a fun loving and successful family; my parents have been very influential to me. As for inspiration, I always get inspired when I learn something new from someone who really knows what they are talking about. I love to hear passion in an individual’s voice.
What’s an issue you care passionately about?
In the most general and universal terms, I care that I do the right thing and that I do it for all the right reasons, and I want to influence and inspire those around me to act in a similar fashion. This applies to everything from environment influencing behavior to college partying.
What interested you about the HECUA program you participated in? What convinced you to apply?
I was convinced to apply when I learned that each day of class takes place in a different location. It was great how field-trip intensive the Environment and Agriculture program was. I was, of course, interested to learn more about the U.S. food system and I have had an interest in healthy eating and the environment for some time. However, this course completely exceeded my expectations—the program blew my mind! I learned so much in such a short amount of time, and so much of it was counter to everything that I’d believed or been told before.
What was your most memorable field speaker or class activity and why?
The most memorable part of the trip for me was the farm stay. I spent three days, two nights, at a dairy farm in central Minnesota. It was an amazing experience to not only learn directly from the farmers on their farm, but to actually do the work. I got pooped on daily while helping to milk the cows! This, for me, was the best way to witness and experience both the intense learning curve as well as the incredible amount of knowledge that farmers are privy to.
Where did you intern while participating in your HECUA program?
For my internship, I continued my farm stay experience by staying and working at several different farms throughout the summer. I basically loved every minute of everyday that I spent on these farms. I learned a little bit about everything that I could get them to teach me about. I put in long hours, I ate entirely local (meaning farm grown) meals, and I got dirty--really, really dirty. I developed an even greater appreciation for what farmers do, especially the sustainable farmers with whom I spent my time, as well as an even greater appreciation of what the word sustainability truly means.
What were/are your impressions of your HECUA program director and/or other teaching faculty that took part in leading the program?
Everyone from HECUA that I’ve met so far have been fantastic. My teachers for the E&A course, Julia Nerbonne and Erin Walsh, were awesome. They were perfect complements to each other, and no one else could have approached the class work the way that it did. They were extremely knowledgeable, very easy to talk to and spend time with, and offered me just the right amount of “laid back” energy to go with the flow of a packed schedule.
How did this HECUA program make an impact on your life goals?
I know that there will always be soil in my blood, and that the land will continue to affect me for the rest of my life. I know that I will be working with the land in some way and building a relationship and gaining understanding from here on out. I don’t know when I will be able to purchase land and build my farm, nor do I know if everything will turn out exactly as I currently hope, but I do hope, very much so, that it does. I have many passions, values, and goals, and my ideal farm would meet and satisfy many of them. I am very excited to see where my life will lead and to someday, after many steps, see this dream and this plan turn into a reality.
What gives you hope?
For brevity’s sake, I will not even attempt to list everything I am excited about. Suffice it to say that there is many a night that I am unable to sleep for all that I am excited for. More than anything else, I am excited to see what the future will bring. There really are a slew of issues that must be dealt with sooner rather than later, particularly in regard to the environment. I have great faith and great hope that I, along with my generation, will rise to the challenge and heed the call of the world.
