UM Senior Champions Food Justice – and Carries the Cause to Law School
By Abigail Lauten-Scrivner, UM News Service
MISSOULA – Growing up in Missoula, Jayden Beed’s mother often sent her to school with extra food or money to share with classmates who didn't have enough. Distraught at seeing others go without, Beed felt good about playing a small role in solving a big problem.
The 91¶ÌÊÓƵ marketing senior strives to embody that ethos to this day.
“I have always been very passionate about people having enough,” Beed said.
A pre-law student attending UM’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law next fall, Beed says “yes” to just about every opportunity and seldom takes “no” for an answer. Through leadership roles in UM’s College of Business and the Davidson Honors College, she endeavors to leverage her ambition to elevate student voices and advocate for those in need.
Her proudest accomplishment was spurred while taking an honors college food justice class that combined research with hands-on experience in the Missoula community. In learning about the realities of food insecurity locally and nationwide, the course led Beed to reflect on her experience seeing classmates go hungry as a child and her mother’s generosity.
“We were taught how to actually create change,” Beed said of the class. “That was pretty important to me.”
She decided to find a way to once again give back to those in need.
Through her role on the Dean’s Student Advisory Council, Beed created a food pantry in the DHC, adding another location in addition to the UM Food Pantry in the University Center and increasing accessibility to hungry students who spend large swaths of time at the honors college.
DHC Dean Tim Nichols noted Beed’s tenacity when she encountered funding hurdles and other obstacles.
“Jayden doesn’t take no for an answer,” he said. “Jayden made it happen. The easy path would have been to say, ‘OK, we asked, and it’s not going to work.’ But she didn’t stop there.”
Now stocked with food and self-care products, Beed keeps the donation-based food pantry organized and well provisioned through frequent drives, noting that it gets extensive use. Beed is always looking to improve the pantry, including adding a QR code for students to request specific items.
Nichols said the pantry has made a real difference for hungry students struggling to pay their bills on a monthly basis. It’s a regular stop on tours, where DHC students and staff underscore to prospective UM undergrads that the honors college is a place where students help each other.
“I think it also has contributed in a positive way to our culture at the DHC – that we look out for and care about one another,” Nichols said. “We see each other as humans, not just numbers.”
Beed also endeavors to raise awareness of the amenities available on campus and in the community for those needing extra help.
“A lot of the time, people are not educated on the resources there are and how to use them,” she said, noting that 60% of UM students in 2020 experienced basic needs insecurity, but only 40% knew there were resources to help. “For me, that just screams the need for more education.”
Encouraged by Nichols, Beed attended the Western Regional Honors Council Conference in Long Beach, California last spring to lead a workshop with other honors students from across the United States, brainstorming solutions to improve food justice across their communities. She also presented at the National Collegiate Honors Council in Kansas City, Missouri last fall to inspire others to take action against food insecurity, in addition to sharing her work at .
In addition to her food justice advocacy, Beed has been preparing to attend law school next fall by interning the past two years as a legal assistant Reep, Bell and Jasper PC, a Missoula-based law firm, and pursuing a minor in communications and a certificate in philosophy, politics and law.
She also launched a podcast and e-book with guidance to help other students land a legal internship and navigate experiences as a pre-law student.
Having been an avid speech and debate competitor in high school, Beed fell in love with argument, persuasion and rhetoric. That, combined with her sense of justice, made law school a natural choice. Although she isn’t yet certain what type of law she wants to practice, Beed knows she’ll continue to work on food justice issues in the greater Missoula area while attending law school.
“I know that food justice is going to be a part of my law practice,” Beed said. “How can a college student truly achieve their potential if they can’t even eat? And that goes for all people. How can you get a job if you can’t even eat?”
“I’ve been told by the Law School that they would like me to make their food pantry better,” she added with a laugh.
Nichols said he is excited to see where Beed’s Law School journey takes her and how she’ll use her career to impart positive change.
“I think she’ll be a successful and powerful attorney that fiercely is on the side of justice and lifting others up,” Nichols said. “I really think that is part of what makes Jayden unique is that combination of ferocity and drive, and then that uncommon kindness. Because sometimes those are two different kinds of people, but Jayden embodies them both.”
Beed hopes to further expand her food justice work to the wider Missoula community. She recently joined the Missoula Food Bank & Community Center as a HR and Governance Board Committee member.
Ultimately, Beed hopes to use her career and influence to inspire others to take a stand with her in leaving the world a better place.
“I don't think anything is achieved by one person,” she said. “No matter what I do, I hope I look back and I’ve ended my advocacy career with a lot of people standing with me.”
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Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM director of strategic communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu.