Well, along with being pregnant and the joys that come with that, I have been spending my time learning the skills of a dietitian.
I started in January driving up to Salt Lake every day to the South Main WIC clinic. This rotation was 1 month long. WIC is "Women, Infants, and Children" and is a government supplemental nutrition program. While I was at WIC, I shadowed several dietitians, counseled clients on how to improve their diets using the foods that WIC gives them, and created several handouts and bulletin boards for nutrition education. I also taught a breastfeeding class!
Overall, I LOVED working at the WIC clinic. I loved the people I worked with, I loved the work I did, and I liked having the strict schedule of clients regularly coming in. We were always busy doing things that were fun! I could definitely see myself working at a WIC clinic in the future.
Next, I went to the Nebo School District in Spanish Fork. This rotation is 13 weeks and I am still here! It has been a ridiculously long time to spend in one rotation, but I have been trying to stay busy.
Some things I have done while here:
- Promoted National School Breakfast Week at a junior high where we played games, won prizes, and had music. It was pretty fun. Our school might be featured in the National School Nutrition Association Magazine next month-- we'll see! This was also featured in the Spanish Fork Net, a local (and very small) TV network.
This is one of the posters I made to advertise breakfast week. (The national theme was breakfast detectives and so we made it pink panther breakfast detectives because their mascot is the panther!)
The second picture is me and Alice, the lunch clerk who helped me pull this off! We are behind the mystery fruit booth where they had to guess what the fruit was. We had dates, mango, papaya, coconut, and Asian pears.
- I've done quite a few studies in the cafeterias looking at acceptability of the food. Those have been fun.
- My favorite part has been the child nutrition education segment of this rotation. I planned with teachers from all different grades to come and teach a nutrition lesson to their class(es). I LOVE teaching. especially nutrition. I thought I would like teaching elementary school best, but I found out that I really liked teaching the high school kids! Of course the elementary kids are ADORABLE and so sweet, but I think if I had to do this long term, all their comments and stories and questions would just drive me a little crazy. When I was with the high schoolers, I felt like I could be more myself. I could joke with them, be a little sarcastic with them, and really relate with them. It was nice to be respected as a professional and yet not feel like I was so much older than them.
So, I totally learned something new about myself! I would rather work with highschoolers than with elementary schoolers. (and the middle schoolers were the hardest!) Who woulda guessed? I could see myself working for a school district teaching nutrition classes to each grade level. That would be super fun!
Overall with this rotation, I haven't found a love for school nutrition or food service. Sure, it's a worthy cause to work on and always changing, but the atmosphere is just a little too laid back for me. It has taught me a lot though. I've learned that I DO NOT want to sit at a desk for all or most of the day. I hate that. I like to be with people and hopefully TEACHING people something. I feel a lot more comfortable discussing nutrition with people now.
Anyway, this internship has been fun. I'm excited to see more aspects of dietetics. Next is a long term care facility, an inpatient hospital, and a diabetes center! Fun stuff!
