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Daneen Bergquist

Executive Director, Kids Against Hunger of Central MN

Phone: 320-203-1799

Email: kidsagainsthunger@yahoo.com

In October of this year I became the Executive Director of Kids Against Hunger (KAH) of Central Minnesota in Sauk Rapids. I interned with this organization in 2006 while obtaining my B.A. at SCSU through the Applied Sociology program. KAH is a short-term international hunger relief campaign that packages and ships food to impoverished areas around the world. Through private donations, our organization purchases the food used in our packaging events and distributes it to places such as Haiti, Malawi, Dominican Republic, and even to our local food shelves. I am responsible for the operations of the entire organization including budgeting, fundraising, marketing, volunteer recruitment,  and scheduling packaging events.

I also work as a Club Administrator for Orono Thunder Soccer Club in Long Lake, MN and have been with this organization since January 2008. I played soccer at Orono while I was in high school and continue to be an active member of the community as a coach and mentor. My primary duties include answering phone and email messages, recruiting coaches and connecting them with their teams, field assignments, and acting as a general support for the Board of Directors.

Upon my graduation in May of 2007 from St. Cloud State University, I received a scholarship from the Vincent L. Hawkinson Foundation which allowed me to travel to the Netherlands to work with Thirdway Human Rights NGO as an International Projects Coordinator. Here I worked to develop a grant proposal for a future human rights center to be located in Anyako, Ghana and facilitated other programs already set in place to work in collaboration with this project. Although I have since moved on, I remain in contact with the organization and continue to offer my support as often as time allows.

I have used Sociology every day in all of my previous and current jobs. Currently I work with a wide variety of volunteers in the community, from at-risk youth to church groups to adults with disabilities and fully understand what it takes to bring such a diverse group of people together to work for a bigger cause. The courses I’ve taken in the SCSU applied sociology program have helped me develop and improve my perspective of the world and has pushed me further to become a continuing activist on an international scale. What I learned through the SCSU sociology department is absolutely priceless and has shown through to this day. I would have never dreamed of becoming an Executive Director of a nonprofit at 23 years old, and I have my former professors and fellow students to thank for that.

Sociology has not only been a major part of my career, but my life as well. It has compelled me to look deeper into the issues humanity faces and to look past the surface-value of an issue and really understand how it connects with society.

Is there anything else you can say about yourself that may be helpful to current students as they enter the job market? 

To future graduating students:

1. MAKE CONNECTIONS. As a sociology major, you should already have an interest in people and how they work. Utilize this to your advantage. I believe sociology is a major which gives you a head start on understanding how the whole system works in our society and will help you facilitate connections for the future.

2. DEFINE YOUR PASSION BEFORE YOU DEFINE YOUR SKILLS. Your passion is NEVER acquired; it is discovered and has been with you your whole life. Learn how to familiarize yourself with your passion BEFORE you define what you’re skills are. This will save you a lot of struggle on your job search in the future and will help you to distinguish between what leaves you satisfied and what leaves you wanting more.

2. NEVER GIVE UP. With the job market as grim as it looks, it’s going to be tough to find the perfect job right out of graduation. It took one year, 20 applications, and NO response for me to finally receive an opportunity that was presented to me because of the connection I made while in college. The more attempts you make, the more likely you are to get opportunities. NEVER give up, as the right opportunity will come at the right time.