Rich Rezler
Communications Manager
The world is full of great tales about seemingly insignificant moments with life-changing consequences. For Washtenaw Community College alumna L’Oreal Hawkes-Williams, the feel-good story of overcoming odds and obstacles to achieve her dreams of helping others all starts with … spinach.
Yes, a recall of the iron-rich, leafy green vegetable was the tipping point of that first domino in Hawkes-Williams’ journey from underemployed young mother to burgeoning community activist to enthusiastic, non-traditional college student.
Others became inspired by her quest and urged Hawkes-Williams to keep moving forward: There was an offer to work in a laboratory at the University of Michigan, followed by encouragement to become a student there herself. Then, the potential for funding of her end-game goal of teaching people in her hometown of Detroit about hydroponic food growing, sustainability and ecology.
She recently pitched her N.E.W. L.E.A.F. (No Earth Wasted-Living Ecological Awareness Farm) initiative to the student project incubator optiMize and was selected out of 130 entries to be part of its 2017 summer fellows cohort. With the funding, Hawkes-Williams will open a self-sustaining hydro-garden in the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit, which she hopes will become a learning hub.
Recounting her story from atop a wooden stool in a U-M science lab, the 37-year-old’s easy smile and gentle mannerisms seem to contradict the guts and mettle that were required. It’s a story that deserves to be retold, and it must start with … spinach.
WCC alumna L’Oreal Hawkes-Williams, 37, on the University of Michigan campus, where she is now a student. Hawkes-Williams has started an initiative to introduce a full-scale hydroponic farm to a Detroit neighborhood. | Photo by Lon Horwedel
‘It's Crazy that we Don't Control Our Own Food.’
“I was making dinner and watching a news report about stores pulling spinach off the shelves all over the country, and I remember thinking to myself that it’s crazy that we don’t control our own food,” Hawkes-Williams says, recalling a day in July 2010 when an E. coli scare forced a recall of the vegetable.
“Right then is when I decided that I needed to learn how to grow my own food for me and my family,” Hawkes-Williams said. “And if I was going to know how to do it, I wanted to be able to teach my neighbors how to do it, too.”
At the time, Hawkes-Williams was working part-time as a cashier and caring for a 9-year-old son and 7-year-old special needs daughter. She started researching community gardening groups, signing up to volunteer wherever she could and to learn whatever she could. That immersion included organic gardening classes offered by the WCC Community Enrichment department, which inspired her to consider returning to school on the credit side of the college.
In 2011, Hawkes-Williams enrolled as a student at WCC and says that’s when her perspectives broadened from providing community services in a physical manner to creating community learning opportunities with a scientific slant. She developed a passion for biology at WCC, something she credits Life Sciences faculty member David Wooten for advancing.
“I took every class he had to offer,” she said. “He had such an interactive style of teaching that I really enjoyed. When I have the chance to be in an educational setting, I model my teaching style after him.”
In return, Wooten says he was excited by the attitude with which Hawkes-Williams approached her educational goals. “L’Oreal was an inspiring and hardworking student who showed that the hard realities of life that often pull students from the classroom would not impede her curiosity or her success,” he said.
WCC became an educational home base for Hawkes-Williams’ pursuits over the next several years, fitting a part-time school schedule into an already busy life of a mother and wife. Still, more dominos were being set up along her labyrinthine path in the meantime.
‘I Realized I Belonged. I Could Do This.’
Hawkes-Williams was introduced to U-M through an ED-QUE2ST summer program for community college students from underrepresented backgrounds, during which she completed a research project on urban agriculture as a science. Her mentor in the program was Theresa Wei Ying Ong, who would later hire Hawkes-Williams as a lab assistant to help with research related to completing Ong’s doctoral studies.
“At some point, I realized that all the people I was around were University of Michigan masters or doctorate students who were interacting with me like I was part of the program,” says Hawkes-Williams, whose youthful appearance and attitude allow her to blend in with students closer in age to her eldest child than herself. “I realized I belonged. I could do this.”
It took some additional coaxing from Ong and others around the Kraus Natural Science Building, but Hawkes-Williams did set her sights on transferring to U-M. She said that process was made less intimidating through the M-Pod transfer program, which provides one-on-one academic advising, mentoring and support for WCC students planning to complete their degrees at U-M.
Because it seems no part of Hawkes-Williams story can be uncomplicated, receiving word that she was accepted at U-M coincided with learning she and her husband were expecting their third child. Unwilling to delay enrollment, she completed her first semester at U-M while eight months pregnant.
Pulling that off was no surprise to Ong, who already watched Hawkes-Williams adeptly juggle work, school and family.
“This whole process was definitely difficult for her and very challenging, but she worked through it,” Ong said. “She’s had a hard life, but she’s the first person to encourage others to meet their potential.”
‘I Feel an Urgency to Get Programs Like this into the Mainstream’
With a baby (Dennis Jr.) at home and two children (Corey, 15, and Taylor, 13) at school, Hawkes-Williams has managed to carry a full load of credits the past two semesters at U-M, where she majors in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
It’s not unusual for her to get four hours of sleep per night. “You sleep when your body puts you down,” said Hawkes-Williams. She also works on the vision for N.E.W. L.E.A.F. alongside her partner and husband, Dennis Williams.
“I feel an urgency to get programs like this into the mainstream as fast as I can,” she said. “The world can’t wait. We need to eat.”
The funding from optiMize will give the project an additional boost, but it’s not the end of the road. Rather than being a final project, Hawkes-Williams envisions her work this summer to be the creation of a template that can be started in many urban areas. Her goals are for N.E.W. L.E.A.F. to become a fully functioning urban farm with an orchard, botanical garden, vegetable garden, animal husbandry, and a hands-on interactive curriculum to teach residents about food systems, sustainability and homesteading.
“The ultimate goal is to reclaim as much space as possible and create centralized areas where people can learn about urban agriculture, as well as gain a basic knowledge of ecology and biology,” she said. “People are so disconnected from nature, from their food sources. We need to help them develop an interest.”
Given all the obstacles that stood between that spinach-induced moment of clarity six years ago and the prospect of her vision coming to life this summer, Hawkes-Williams is asked how she found the determination to continue.
She stands up from her wooden stool and pulls open a blue cardigan sweater to reveal a T-shirt with an optiMize tagline: “Stop waiting for someone else to change the world.” Above that, in large blue letters: “Why not me?”
Why not, indeed.
M-POD transfer program
L’Oreal Hawkes-Williams is one of many Washtenaw Community College students who choose to transfer to the University of Michigan to complete a bachelor’s degree. Because that can be an intimidating process, the M-POD transfer program provides the support services to make the transition as easy as possible.
M-POD offers WCC students:
• One-on-one academic advising.
• Mentoring, support and advice to help make students as competitive as
possible for admission to U-M.
• Workshops and seminars with U-M staff and students to provide information
about resources and services available, as well as networking opportunities.
• Assistance with the U-M application process.
For more information, contact M-POD Coordinator Alexandra McCracken at [email protected] or 734-477-8519 to schedule an appointment.