Emily Wayne
Current Master's Student
Emily Wayne embarked on her journey to Vermont Law and Graduate School long before she stepped foot on campus this past August. Emily grew up splitting her time between Saint Barthelemy, in the Caribbean, and Quebec, Canada. She ultimately landed in Florida eager to pursue an undergraduate degree in environmental studies and anthropology from Rollins College.
After earning her degree, she briefly worked in the City of Orlando’s Sustainability Department before eventually making a life-changing move to Peru to work for the School of Field Studies. In Peru, Emily worked in the Amazon and aided in facilitating the day to day needs of students studying tropical ecology. While working and living in the remote landscape, Emily noticed the resilient and communal nature of small-scale farming happening all around her. This inspiring experience drew her to engage with the field of food systems.
After living in Peru for two years, COVID-19 made living abroad untenable and required Emily to shift gears and return to the United States. Like many of us, the pandemic encouraged Emily to reflect on her experiences and sense of purpose. The impact of the pandemic spurred her to consider topics like the “fragility of systems we all live and participate in” and the “disconnect of people from food sources and nature.”
Concurrently, she sought out educational opportunities which would help her engage with and advocate for food and agriculture issues on all scales. Vermont Law and Graduate School had been on her radar since college, as her family had farmed in the area and she had visited central Vermont on and off for years. Like she had in the past, Emily decided to take a leap and dive headfirst into a new adventure—this time in the decidedly less tropical forests of the Green Mountain State.
In August, Emily started the journey toward earning a master’s degree in Food and Agriculture Law and Policy, while simultaneously working to revitalize her family’s farm by venturing into the cannabis industry. She described the experience of farming, running a business, and going to school as chaotic, but rewarding. Emily is thankful for her time living and working before returning to school. She credits her curiosity and open-mindedness to the time she spent interacting with complex social and environmental issues like deforestation in the Amazon.
In classes, she appreciates the opportunity to interact with people who approach the same problem with different perspectives and solutions. She hopes to work and complete her degree at Vermont Law and Graduate School over the course of a few years, highlighting her interest in integrating her education into all facets of her life and wanting to immerse herself in VLGS projects and clinics. Emily looks forward to using her experiences and graduate education to advocate for a variety of issues including advancing a right to food, strengthening local food economies, and bolstering equity within food systems broadly.