Alondra Damian

Alondra Damian '25 has made a significant impact on sustainability at Knox College. Damian currently serves as the outreach coordinator of the Food Recovery Network (FRN), where she coordinates with various organizations in town to help donate leftover food from the cafeteria. She also serves on the compost crew at the Knox Farm, which manages compost collected from the students, staff, and faculty, on the Knox Farm.

Damian says she has always loved nature, and Knox gave her a chance to work with like-minded people. Her decision to choose Knox was influenced by its proximity to her home in Chicago and the strong outreach and assistance she received from the College, even during the pandemic.

Throughout the year, she looks forward to on-campus events such as FRN’s “Weigh the Waste” event, where in the spring term, Damian and her peers educated students on waste separation in the cafeteria. They also weighed the total waste to showcase how much food was not being eaten by the students.

For new students interested in sustainability, Alondra suggests volunteering with FRN, the campus farm, and the bike shop, as well as visiting Green Oaks to learn more about the prairie restoration projects.

Damian is also involved with organizations like Lo Nuestro which inspired her to learn more about Latin American culture and eventually choose it as her minor. Many of her inspirations come from Professor of Modern Languages (Spanish) Julio Noriega and Professor of Modern Languages (German) Todd Heidt, who supported her throughout her study abroad journey in Latin America. She also deeply admires William Hope, chair and associate professor of anthropology-sociology, and Tina Hope, director of sustainability, who have always been instrumental in her learning about the environment. 

“The whole faculty and staff have been incredible support systems,” Damian added. “If I have dreams or ideas of what I want to see at Knox, they say, ‘We can do this, we can make it happen.’”

Damian is currently applying to graduate schools and is eager to take the skills and values developed at Knox into a career dedicated to meaningful environmental change.