University of Illinois | 150 Years & Beyond

We say college, A-list nutrition consultant Jenny Westerkamp says ...

1. The Animal Sciences Lab. “My senior year, I really wanted to help this amazing protein researcher, Dr. Layman, with his breast cancer nutrition rat study. He agreed and I was assigned to prepare the diets and feed the study rats ... at 6 a.m. So for a semester, I took very early morning strolls to the ANSCI basement to feed my rats breakfast. 

“At the end of the study, when very sad things happened to the rats, I decided research wasn’t for me, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless.” 

2. The corner of Fifth and Green. “I started a club on campus called Students Team Up to Fight Hunger, and for a few weekends we did ‘canning’ at Fifth and Green, one of the busiest corners. My group would go around midnight and be stationed at all four corners of this intersection.

"We collected hundreds of dollars for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, thanks to generous and possibly intoxicated donors. 

3. Chi Omega Room 17. “I had two best friends in my sorority and after one semester living in the house, we had to move rooms and couldn’t all live together unless we squeezed into the smallest room in the house. So, we put bunk bends on cinderblocks and maximized the space vertically. 

“I had to sleep with half my body trapped underneath the bed of my friend, who couldn’t fully sit up in her top bunk because it was so close to the ceiling. We don’t regret it.”