Meet Julija Sakutyte, a sophomore studying Molecular and Cellular Biology with a minor in Sustainability and an iSEE Clerk working for both the Transportation and Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling SWATeams.
Sakutyte is also a part of Eat4Health, a Registered Student Organization at the U of I. She is incredibly passionate about nutrition and health — both of humans and of the earth — and she is constantly reading about human health and nutrition. The world of medicine fascinates her. She has always been passionate about cooking and loves to combine the scientific knowledge behind what fuels our bodies with the craftsmanship of cooking.
Sakutyte originally got involved with the SWATeam through iSEE Sustainability Programs Coordinator Micah Kenfield.
“I joined because, while I love being a sustainability fellow, I was searching for a way to translate the knowledge from my incredibly fascinating classes to a real-life application,” she said. “Integrating myself into the conversation as a clerk will give me an amazing chance to understand the realities of environmental politics and make connections with sustainably-minded individuals!”
Her SWATeams hope to not only make topical impacts in the transportation and PWR fields, but to also change the campus culture to reflect the sustainable community the members believe we can be.
All aspects of sustainability are important to Sakutyte, but she understands that transportation represents an area of luxury that is difficult to give up for the sake of convenience. She believes we can really make a communal impact by shifting that convenience to more sustainable practices.
“The University of Illinois is a congregation of individuals who want to change the world,” she said. “The level of devotion and passion I have seen demonstrated here is unrivaled. I value the community so much — it’s hard to not want to do good for the world when everyone else is, too!”