The Pack Essentials program is a critical resource for students. A 2017 survey found that many NC State students were experiencing food and housing insecurity. The Pack Essentials Steering Committee was formed out of a desire to do something about this. It consists of faculty and staff, as well as undergraduate and graduate students from colleges across NC State. The goal of this committee was to first focus on how to help students experiencing food and housing insecurity and then move towards preventing students from ever experiencing this.
Sarah Bowen, professor of sociology and director of the sociology graduate program, joined the committee near the beginning. The committee’s work involves a lot of things.
“One of the things we did was organize these asset mapping workshops. We brought together faculty, staff and students from different places to talk about what they saw working at NC State and what they thought needed to change,” Bowen explained.
In 2021, Pack Essentials was looking for an assistant to help students experiencing these insecurities. Emilia Cordero Oceguera, PhD student in sociology, was recommended by Bowen for this graduate assistant role as she had previously helped with the asset mapping workshops.
Cordero Oceguera has worked with Pack Essentials for the past year and a half, but recently stepped down to focus on her dissertation. Cordero Oceguera’s graduate studies focus on agroecology and the sociology of food, one of the department’s research specialties. The importance of the work done at Pack Essentials took much of her attention, making it hard to do her dissertation at the same time. Cordero Oceguera is now back in Mexico City finishing her dissertation and looking for other opportunities.
Reflecting on her work with Pack Essentials, Cordero Oceguera explained the big impact it left on her: not only as someone who works with students but as a graduate student herself. Cordero Oceguera’s double role helped her observe and better understand the inequities that students at NC State were experienced. Additionally, Cordero Oceguera learned that her future work needs to be connected to people and have a more direct impact. “As an international student, I have also helped other international students,” Cordero Oceguera stated. “That helped me have perspective on my own situation within the university, not being someone that is from the U.S.”
While helping students, Cordero Oceguera gained an appreciation for the complexities between institutions’ efforts to make changes and the structural processes driving food and housing insecurity. Students want to be at NC State and are working to get a degree, but can really struggle to do that. Support from the university is needed to prevent students from experiencing insecurities in the first place. While some of these big ideas are out of the scope of NC State, a lot of progress has been made through support for the food pantry and Pack Essentials, along with other important initiatives.
“I think sociologists are equipped to both see inequality and also see the structural conditions that cause inequality, and I think this is an example of where everyone can see them,” Bowen said.
It is important to note that Pack Essentials has resources to help in emergency moments of crisis. Many students do not know about these resources; Cordero Oceguera didn’t until she began working there. Bowen explained that it is important for students to know these resources are out there and that it is not stigmatized. It is also key for professors and those in administrative roles to know about the resources Pack Essentials offers and why it exists. Cordero Oceguera noted the many emails and messages she has received explaining how much Pack Essentials has helped students.
For those looking to get involved, the food pantry – run by undergraduate students – can always use volunteers. In addition to volunteering, students can organize food drives through organizations at NC State to collect food for the pantry.
Students are involved in many different phases from Cordero Oceguera’s graduate assistant role to students volunteering at the food pantry. The involvement of students allows greater attunement to students’ needs as they are able to provide a unique insight into the student experience.
Pack Essentials responds to the fact that not all structural problems can be fixed right now, but people need help now. Whether it is rent or food or something else, Pack Essentials offers assistance in times of need.
“Having that emergency help for students is something essential, like the name of [the] program says,” Cordero Oceguera stated.
This article is by Rena Lustig, a Department of Sociology and Anthropology student ambassador majoring in sociology.
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