FIERCe

Student: "Hello, I'm a full-time student at PCC, and one of the most difficult parts of being a college student who lives on her own is experiencing food insecurity. As a full-time student, worker, and friend to everyone I love, I'm very busy, and I'm constantly tired and overworked. There are many things that can occupy my mind at once, but one thing that's always there is thinking about how I will get my next meal. Between paying for my basic life needs like rent, car payments, insurance, utilities, and also having to pay for tuition and books and all that, it's hard to think about nutritional food. I have to work at a job that I hate just to have access to the free food, and even that's not enough. At least in high school, we received free lunch, and I know that's definitely when I was doing better academically, which makes me confused as to why the college doesn't offer something similar. It's hard to focus in class for eight hours when all I can think about is what I will have for my first meal at work when I get there at six PM. How are students supposed to succeed when their basic needs aren't even met?"