Three Students Secure Chocolate Passport Grants
Three St. Lawrence students have secured Chocolate Passport grant funding to support projects examining sustainable cacao agroforestry, consumer responsibility, and medicinal and pharmaceutical uses of cacao.
All funded activities will focus on the education of chocolate as a unifying element to bridge connectivity and inclusiveness among the campus community. Students with an interest in conducting related research, including independent study or SYE courses, completing group projects and club-related projects, or developing creative projects were able to apply for funding.
Alexis Parent '25
Sustainable Cacao Agroforestry
Alexis is developing a research paper and poster campaign regarding the process of cacao production and its connection to the various interconnected parts of the cacao industry. The project will focus on better supporting cacao farmers and sustainable farming practices by buying bean to bar chocolate, understanding how chocolate companies take care to fairly work with the farmers, and emphasizing quality, sustainability, and transparency. Through communicating project findings to the St. Lawrence community during the Chocolate Festival this May, Alexis hopes to educate the surrounding community in an accessible manner.
Faith Olusegun '25
Internship with 57 Chocolate, Ghana
Faith's project centers around volunteering with the '57 Chocolate Company located in East Legon, Ghana for 30 hours during the summer. The luxury brand company is run by sisters, Kimberly and Priscilla Addison. In volunteering with this company, Faith hopes to connect the St. Lawrence University and surrounding communities with the inherent consumer responsibility in purchasing ethical chocolate, as well as the technical information about making chocolate through a presentation and Hill News article.
Emily Felton '25
Chocolate on the Brain
Emily is examining the medicinal and pharmaceutical uses of cacao by exploring how it affects people's moods and how it can be used in treatment as an antioxidant and a mood enhancer.
The Chocolate Passport Project is a unique interdisciplinary educational and experiential course of study that will address the traditional, spiritual, and medicinal uses of Theobroma cacao, its agricultural production, the global market for chocolate, ethics, and sustainability of this market, culinary uses of chocolate, the chemistry of chocolate, and its role in the art of all cultures.
This project is made possible thanks to a generous Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Chocolate History Research Grant from Mars Wrigley.