ERIN VERBECK-LANE
2016-17 Traveling Fellow
The Significance of the Chicken Nugget and Carton of Milk: Understanding Social Program Performance through National School Lunch Programs
An exploration of the extent to which external factors – such as historical events, culture, and beliefs – influence the effectiveness of national school lunch programs (NSLP). NSLP performance varies across the globe, which creates the critical opportunity to dialogue best practices between countries.
Erin currently works as a Cloud Security Engineer at Tanium, a Converged Endpoint Management platform.
Blog: The Significance of the Chicken Nugget and Carton of Milk
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
Major/Minor: Anthropology/Human and Organizational Development
While at Vanderbilt, Erin was an Ingram Scholar, served as a Head Residential Advisor in Branscomb Quad, researched for the National Science Foundation as well as Metro Nashville Public School’s breakfast programming, and acted in the play, “How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes.” She was also a VUcept leader.
However, some of Erin’s favorite college memories took place outside of Vanderbilt, at Preston Taylor Ministries (PTM), a nonprofit that works to improve student outcomes in North Nashville. While at PTM, Erin implemented a summer nutrition program that taught nutrition and leadership skills by using media and social media. Her passions for social justice, wellness, and youth fueled the development of the nutrition program, and have also extended to her upcoming travels on the Keegan Fellowship.
“A key lesson I learned while traveling is that no political system is "best." I was abroad when Trump got elected in 2016, and believe that we live in an increasingly polarizing, toxic political climate now. Before leaving on the Keegan Fellowship, I was extremely liberal and believed that a strong, centralized government was critical to effective governance. Then I went to Indonesia, a country comprised of several thousand islands - and realized that a more conservative, state/regional government made far more economical/administrative sense than a centralized federal government. That's what Keegan does to you - it challenges your world view at every step of the way; it shows you the world and then dares you to have an absolutist view about anything.”
— Erin Verbeck-Lane, 2016-17
TRAVEL STORY
This has nothing to do with my fellowship topic, but the most common thread throughout my entire Keegan Fellowship was seeing refugees. No matter if I was in a Western country, on a remote island, I saw refugees. You see their resolve, resourcefulness and hardiness despite the terrible treatment they often receive from their former governments or "current" government.
ITINERARY
Rome, Italy
Helsinki, Finland
Stockholm, Sweden
Copenhagen, Denmark
London, England
Paris, France
Budapest, Hungary
Windhoek, Namibia
Johannesburg, South Africa
Hyderabad, India
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Shanghai, China
Tokyo, Japan
Cairns, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand