Student Spotlight: Catarina (Cat) Ratajczak, ASUW 2018-19 Student Food Coop Co-Manager

What is your position with the ASUW Student Food Coop (SFC) and what are some of your current responsibilities?
My position with the ASUW SFC is a co-manager along with Emma D’Orazio. I currently work to create an environment on campus that promotes education about, and access to, sustainable, ethical, local food. This takes shape in a few ways. To start, I plan events, like Humblefeast, that create community around food and provide platforms for other students to talk about their work in the food system. Other smaller events are collaborative and talk about everything from culturally appropriate food, agricultural labor, factory farming, and mental health. We don’t box ourselves in at the SFC. Another thing I do is manage our awesome storefront, the Bean Basket! The Bean Basket is a bulk buying store selling non-perishable, sustainable sourced foods. It is volunteer run and only has a 15% markup price from wholesale. A lot goes into managing a store that follows the cooperative model, but it is so fulfilling! We also have an awesome collaboration with the UW Food Pantry, which is some of my favorite work.

What are your goals for the SFC?
SFC has many goals! We want to, first and foremost, provide access to and education about good, nutrient-dense food with ethical sourcing on campus. It is so important to talk about food within the University, as a lot of students struggle with food insecurity. Beyond that, we want to foster a collaborative, respectful environment where we include all voices, work with RSOs as well as off-campus groups that align with our values. Food is universal, and we want to collaborate with as many groups as possible. If we are talking about long-term goals, we would absolutely love to have a larger storefront that collaborates with other awesome groups on campus, which would allow for expansion beyond selling only dried goods

In what ways has the HUB contributed to your Husky Experience?
The HUB has allowed for the SFC to have a storefront on campus. That is absolutely integral to the achievement of the SFC mission, and we are so thankful for that. Beyond that, we often utilize HUB services such as the HUB kitchen, which is truly vital to almost all of our events. If we were to not have access to the kitchen, big-scale events would be nearly impossible.

What is your dream job?
I am an Urban Design & Planning major. My dream job is working for a private consulting urban planning firm, where I can design green space, poster community, and promote equity. I am so excited to pursue and achieve this one day.

Do you have any Husky game day traditions? If so, what?
I have never been to a Husky football game, actually. As a transfer student, I missed out on the football game traditions. However, if I were to imagine what I would enjoy…I would probably say the snacks!

Fun Fact
I lived in India as a child!