“I worked with a middle school farm‐to‐school education program, surveyed farmers and consumers and volunteered with an organization called NH Gleans,” the North Hampton, New Hampshire, resident says. 'It seemed to me that an unacceptable number of people in our New Hampshire towns and communities didn't know where their next meal would come from or were having to make the difficult decision whether to pay rent or to buy groceries.'

Working with Joanne Burke of the agriculture, nutrition, and food systems department, Papadakis investigated “various aspects of New Hampshire’s food system to understand what goes on from farm-to-fork and to think through potential opportunities that exist to improve food system viability in the state.” Her goal was to get a better handle on food systems through research. In 2018, during the summer following her freshman, Papadakis participated in the Hamel Center’s Research Experience and Apprenticeship Program (REAP), designed for first-year honor students. Then she started thinking more about hunger. So she majored in sustainable agriculture and food systems, adding the dual major ecogastronomy. When she started at UNH, she thought that interest would take her in the direction of how it’s grown, harvested, marketed, consumed- that kind of thing. Alexandra Papadakis ’21 has long been interested in food.

Youtube farm to fork game