Dylan Zielonko
April 23, 2019
Dylan Zielonko (2018).
Dylan’s passion and curiosity are found in the lab with plant geneticists, on the plate at a chef’s table, and in the soil alongside our nation’s young and veteran farmers. When Dylan isn’t covered in soil or asking how trees use mycelium to communicate, he is cooking, consuming Earwolf podcasts, and exploring the green spaces of St. Louis. His idols are Nikolai Vavilov, Michelle Obama, and Janelle Monae. Eat local and seasonal, thank the farmers, and most importantly, thank the plants.
What year did you graduate and what was your concentration?
Spring 2013 with a concentration in Public Communication.
What extra-/co-curricular activities did you do?
Student Activities Board (SAB) and hosting radio shows on KTRM.
Did you go to grad school? If so, where? Was it immediately after you left Truman or did you wait? Why?
Nope. Not yet. I want a Master’s degree in Plant Pathology and Entomology. Perhaps one day.
What was your first job after graduation?
I helped build a deck extension for a friend’s grandmother.
What work do you do/What are you doing now?
Urban agriculture and food policy is what I do for love and income. I work for the Farm Journal Foundation. They strive to bring more farmers into the domestic and international agriculture policy dialogue and build global hunger education programming for use in the classroom. I also work part-time at Trader Joe’s, which is one of the nation’s best corporate models, and arguably the best grocery retailer in the country. I make time to volunteer at a few of the stunning farms and gardens located in around St. Louis, MO.
Some of Dylan’s agricultural handiwork (2018).
How has your Liberal Arts/COMM education helped you?
It helped transform me into a voracious reader who treats libraries as a second home.
Which class did you dislike at the time you took it, but now you’re grateful you took it?
Communication Methods. That class is important and underappreciated. Current students! Take it seriously.
What was your greatest accomplishment at Truman?
Serving the students for three years as a member of the Student Activities Board.
Why is Truman a good place for a student to study?
Affordable tuition, expert and caring staff and professors, lots of green spaces both on and off campus, and an incredible library.
One of the great green spaces on campus, the Sunken Garden, behind the Kirk Memorial (2013).
What would you say a COMM student should absolutely do while at Truman?
Get eight hours a sleep a night as often as you can, adopt a lentil and potato heavy diet, seek help with any metal health issues you may be facing, and attempt to get to know your professors beyond the classroom.
What advice would you give someone who wants to go into the same line of work as you?
Network and mingle with the agricultural and food focused folks in whatever city or community you settle in after graduating. Simply asking what people do, and how you can be involved has opened up innumerable opportunities for me in the St. Louis food and agriculture world. Volunteer at as many farms and gardens as you can. There are few jobs more noble than growing food for the people.
What do you miss most about campus/Kirksville?
Pickler Memorial Library. It was were I socialized, slept, found romance, hammered out quality work, and gave my rapt attention to innumerable books.
I miss that library dearly. (Editor’s note: It misses you too. Pickler asks about you frequently.)
Truman’s (and Dylan’s) beloved Pickler memorial Library (2017).
What tag line would you create for the COMM department at Truman?
“COMM to my Window. COMM inside and wait by the light of the moon.” (Editor’s note: All apologies to Melissa Etheridge.)
If you could come back to Truman and teach a class for a semester, what would be its title and what would it be about?
Everything is Expensive: Navigating Health Insurance, Mortgages, Groceries, Vacations, and the Career Rat Race after you Graduate.
What did we not ask that you think is important for people to know?
Seek out a rewarding and enjoyable part-time job. Having a part-time job not only puts money in your pocket, but also allows you to constructively escape academia for a few hours a week. Use that money to bolster the Kirksville economy.
Dylan after graduation (2013).