Former Gargoyle editor recounts dumpster-diving

Flagler College graduate Haley Walker won a prestigious award for a story that had her climbing into local dumpsters in search of edible food, according to an announcement received by Historic City News reporters today.

Walker’s story won her first place from the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region Three Mark of Excellence competition in the Online In-Depth Reporting/ 4-Year College or University category.

The story, headlined “Former Gargoyle Editor Recounts Dumpster-Diving Experience,” appeared in the Flagler College online student newspaper, The Gargoyle. Her win automatically advances her into the national Mark of Excellence competition to be held this October in Las Vegas.

For her story, Walker learned proper “dumpster-diving etiquette” from the organization Food Not Bombs. She ate soley from the trash for several weeks. She said that she was taught to never “blow up the spot and leave it cleaner than when you came – never ruin someone else’s only chance at food.”

Food Not Bombs is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to nonviolent social change. Dumpster-divers recover food that is thrown out to make fresh, hot vegan and vegetarian meals to be served in outside public spaces to anyone who wants it.

The experience took Walker to several dumpsters in the St. Augustine area to “dive” for food that is still edible if cleaned properly. Soon, Walker was engulfed in the experience.

“It became a thrilling hunt, and I was immediately flooded with enthusiasm as more and more edible food was found,” she said in her story.

“I wanted to step outside of my own life for a moment,” Walker said. “I would have never thought I would do this until I was actually inside the dumpster.”

Helena Särkiö, Ph.D., Walker’s professor for an advanced reporting class, said she likes to push her students to take on out-of-the-box assignments. “I really want to push my students outside of their comfort zones,” Särkiö said. “I want them to experience something that they have never experienced before. That’s what makes you a better reporter.”

Särkiö also said Flagler College was the smallest school in the competition. “Most of the schools we were up against had daily newspapers, and the students had deadlines to meet. They had that extra edge over us,” she said. “With our limited resources, it was a great accomplishment for my students.”

Another Flagler graduate, Phillip Mansfield, came in second in the Online Feature Reporting/4-College or University category. His story, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere,” which also appeared in The Gargoyle, focused on how the failing economy – resulting in many people suddenly facing unemployment – has affected many families around the United States.

Walker is currently working on her master’s in environmental journalism at Michigan State University.