By Katrina Lewis, Equal Exchange Advocate
Katrina Lewis, an interior architecture professor at Kansas State University (KSU), participated in the Lutheran World Relief Delegation in January 2007 to Nicaragua. Following her trip, she became active in promoting Equal Exchange and talking about Fair Trade with friends, family, fellow faculty members, and even her design students. Aside from providing the students with Equal Exchange coffee and chocolate during studio sessions (especially the late-night work that's required in this field), Katrina incorporated social justice ideas such as Fair Trade into her classes and design exercises.
In the fall semester of 2007, her second-year interior architecture residential design studio students worked on a conceptual exercise for an existing 80-year-old vacant building in the coffee-growing community of La Esperanza, Nicaragua. This small co-operative of 25 to 30 families is part of CECOCAFEN, a larger co-operative that partners with Equal Exchange. The students had to choose one of three design programs:
1. An Equal Exchange employee retreat. The rural sanctuary would provide a "think-tank" environment for Equal Exchange employees to break from the routine of work and develop innovative ideas, policies and products.
2. A Fair Trade hostel for 10 to 15 persons. The hostel would promote Fair Trade, the co-operative movement, and coffee production to a younger, travelling generation.
3. A Fair Trade guesthouse for three to five persons. This clientele would be more influential, older, and would not necessarily be comfortable staying with a local host family, but desires to experience a "real" Nicaraguan coffee co-operative.
 In designing and carrying out the project, Katrina collaborated with entities on and off-campus to expose students to issues relating to Fair Trade and social justice. The design exercise corresponded with Fair Trade Week at KSU. Katrina's students were asked to attend various events, including the KSU Fair Trade Advocates' Oxfam Hunger Banquet, the KSU Fair Trade Marketplace, and a United Students for Fair Trade event hosted by the KSU Fair Trade Advocates.
Finally, her students had the opportunity to meet Alfredo, a Nicaraguan college student, whose family is a member of the CECOCAFEN co-operative. These activities and the project itself enabled the students to think beyond themselves and learn about sustainability, social justice issues, and Fair Trade on a new level.
To find out more on these projects, you are welcome to contact Katrina Lewis.
Teaching a younger audience? The Equal Exchange curriculum, Win Win Solutions, targets children in grades 4-9. 
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