Jenn DeRose

Jenn works full time as Program Manager for Green Dining Alliance while earning her Bachelor’s degree from Washington University as a part time student in University College. She also finds time to work as a waste ambassador for Recycling on the Go, where she manages recycling and composting at events in St. Louis, as a tour guide and animal maintenance person for Mid America Aquatic Center, and holds several volunteer positions, including: social media director and events coordinator for Big Muddy Records, DJ for KDHX community radio, member of the Young Friends Board for Missouri Coalition for the Environment City, and volunteer at City Greens Urban Farm. She also writes freelance pieces for the Riverfront Times and delivers restaurant meals on her bicycle for Griffin Delivery, a bike-based courier service.

Jenn’s effect on the Washington University campus is two-fold; she lives a sustainable life herself and she represents sustainability to students, faculty and staff on campus. Jenn participates in the University College Latin honors program, and is researching and writing a thesis that will suggest ways to build social capital in underserved neighborhoods. She represents the best qualities of our students, having obtained her current job as the Green Dining Alliance Program Manager in part due to her academic expertise in sustainability and using her academic learning to inform her daily work and volunteer responsibilities. She was the first working undergraduate student at Washington University to participate in the highly selective FOCUS St. Louis Emerging Leaders Program. She also has certified our own Whittemore House as a Green Dining Alliance member earlier this year, and she exclusively uses alternative transportation to travel around St. Louis.