Virginia Sanzo
“CSP has been very helpful to conceptualize what I’m going to do when I graduate and how I’m able to be engaged with my future community."
CESL Program: Community Scholars Program
Major: Public Health; Journalism
Virginia Sanzo ‘28 (she/her) is an Honors public health and journalism student from Arlington, Massachusetts. As someone who wanted to get involved with a community-based organization, Virginia was immediately drawn to the Community Scholars Program (CSP) after hearing about it in an introductory public health class.
Coming to UMass, Virginia knew about its reputation for number one dining and was therefore interested to learn about the number of students facing food insecurity at the university. Her passion for food justice led her to the mutual aid pod of CSP and eventually the UMass Food Recovery Network (FRN), which is the university’s chapter of a national program that recovers perishable food items and returns them back to the community. As part of FRN, Virginia recovers food from Franklin Dining Commons every Thursday and delivers it to University Village Drive, where many graduate students live.
Next semester, Virginia will join the e-board of FRN. “It’s been a great progression of getting more involved with the club and with the program in general. Because there were so many seniors this year, me and the rest of the e-board members are going to be able to start fresh next year and rebuild. We have some great ideas and some new initiatives for the club,” says Virginia about her progression to e-board member.
In terms of the classroom work itself, Viriginia explains that most classes are centered around assigned readings that inspire passionate discussions. This semester, her class has read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry and Adrienne Marie Brown’s Emergent Strategy. Reflecting on these readings, Virginia says, “In this current tumultuous world, it’s really helpful to come to CSP, do those readings, and see how we can put work into action to fix structural issues that bring about all of these inequities in the world.”
Thinking about the culture within the classroom, Virginia appreciates the time to check in with one another before diving into the week’s material. She credits these check-ins for the tight knit bond that has been created within her cohort, which has its own group chat to make plans and share events outside of class time. Describing the bond among students, Virginia says, “Everyone feels really safe with each other, and we all have similar values.”
Unlike other classes she’s taken at UMass, Virginia sees the courses within CSP as helpful for her everyday life, for her work with FRN, and for the work she hopes to do in the future. Reflecting on her future, Virginia says, “CSP has been very helpful to conceptualize what I’m going to do when I graduate and how I’m able to be engaged with my future community while also learning about how to be engaged with my current community.”