Before my undergraduate studies, my interest in dietetics began with the culinary side of food, and then grew to a fascination of how nutrition impacts health. This fascination evolved from collecting recipes and looking for peanut allergy alternatives, to transitioning into vegetarianism and experimenting in the kitchen to meet my nutrition needs, and finally watching changes in health impact the nutrition of my parents – my mother after having her gallbladder removed and my father with a diabetes diagnosis. Leading up to and after graduation my interest expanded after taking on several volunteer and work-related roles. At Missouri State University (MSU) this was helping a TRIO supervisor with her questions regarding nutrition and diabetes, and learning transferable skills from tutoring students to reach their academic goals. My current food service position at Lakeland has taught me leadership skills and allowed me to see the full complexity of running a food service establishment. Through the public health internship, I have found my passion in the wellness position at the YMCA for its engagement with the public and having the opportunity to assist them in reaching their wellness goals. All of these experiences have nodded towards my undergraduate goals of gaining experience to expand my career possibilities and match to a dietetic internship.
An example of the leadership skills I have developed at Lakeland, include the opportunity on numerous occasions to train newer
At the beginning of my senior year, I committed myself to additional volunteer works. These volunteer activities require leadership skills that I have learned previously. Some of these activities include:
Currently, I have been working as a community nutritionist for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children for over a year and half. My job responsibilities at the office include determination of eligibility of clients, assessment of nutritional health risks, and presentation of nutrition
My own unique leadership experiences have shaped me over the years. Peer leadership and the Chick-fil-a Leadership Academy have offered me a wide variety of unique leadership experiences. I have learned so much from organizing charitable events, to teaching social skills to autistic and other special needs middle-schoolers and the ABCs and 123s to kindergartners. As a role as Varsity lacrosse captain allows me to mentor and share my experiences with other players. Last year, my advice helped a player decide not to quit the team.
that I am interested in growing upon my leadership skills.Another reason that I believe I would be
My leadership skills have developed enormously while being part of the Tigette program, and will continue to grow because I have been
Being involved in everything I do, my leadership skills have developed naturally through experience. I can think creatively and critically and offer advice to others. Through past mistakes and other’s opinions, I have learned to make my failures into successes. Through many organizations and extracurriculars, I have gained many perspectives on various topics. For instance, at BAE Systems, I take part in hands-on learning with other students who are as dedicated as me. This allows me to learn new perspectives in a cooperative environment. We constantly communicate with each other, sharing our ideas on how to solve the task at hand.
Right after high school, I completed my certification of nursing aide. This allowed me to venture into the medical field early on and attain experience. I applied at Creekside Convalescent Hospital and became a well oiled nursing aide machine. After recognition from upper management I transitioned into a leadership role with included overseeing a restorative care program. This included overseeing and redeveloping a not so well structured restorative care program. I was in charge of setting the schedule, dealing with issues among employees,improving collaboration, improving work conditions, re-training the new curriculum of the program to the employees, and changing their way of charting . After making a lot of changes to the program, some employees quit and some stayed. After I while ,with my ideas and with the help of my supervisor we have improved our restorative care program drastically.In the beginning, we had a chaotic program without order and now, we still have some minor issues to work out, but it has improved. Here are one-two examples that I chose to demonstrate how my leadership experience has influenced my position and others.After taking over the schedule I decided to change the schedule to
This internship has giving me the chance to observe and witness firsthand the daily activates of a dietitian. Also I have seen how rewarding a dietitian’s career can be in helping others obtain their goals for a healthier life. Over the semester I was able to watch one successful client lose over 25 pounds and reverse her prediabetes health parameters. This has truly shown me that this is the right career for me because I want a job that I can help other. Before I started this internship I wanted to observe nutrition counseling and learn how to effectively use it. Another goal I had for my internship was to practice the nutritional skill I acquired in my undergraduate curriculum. Over the semester I was able to practice menu planning, observe nutrition counseling, nutrition assessment, and create nutrition education handouts. This internship has also, reinforced my dream and goal of owning my own nutritional business. Being able to experience the entrepreneurial aspect of a dietitian with Texas Total Health has taught me so much and opened my eyes to what I need to do to obtain my goal later in life. I didn’t truly have a perspective of all the work you have to put into your own business until this internship. However after this experience I have realized that I know that I do have what it takes to fulfill my
When I first began college I was unsure of what career path I wanted to pursue, but I knew whatever I chose would lead me to a challenging and rewarding career. My first semester I enrolled as a biology major because of my interest in science and desire to work within the health care field. This same semester I also happened to be taking a nutrition class as apart of my general education, and I was introduced to the science of nutrition. As the semester progressed my passion for nutrition grew, while the feelings of uncertainty I had about my future career path began to dissolve. I was drawn to nutrition once I began learning about the effect that food has on our health, and realized I could help people suffering from diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, which are so prevalent today. I knew that choosing to major in dietetics was going to require an immense amount of hard work and dedication, but I decided to accept the challenge and pursue a career in dietetics.
I am interested in being a dietitian because it seems like an interesting job. I love working with people and teaching them or showing them what to do. I also am an organised person, I like everything to be very orderly or else I can’t function. In North American, the obesity is growing and I think that it is important that everyone tries or at least know what to do to help them get out of or avoid that. I love food and I love giving people advice. How the body works is fascinating and I would love to learn
As graduation grew nearer, I couldn't shake the feeling that my time as a Black Bear wasn't done, so when it came time to decide my next step, I knew graduate school at the University of Maine was the right choice. I feel that especially in a time where the majority of young adults raised in Maine are moving away to pursue careers elsewhere it is important to use my education and skills to give back and contribute to improving the health of Mainers. When deciding what I wanted to do with my life I had a lot of ideas. When I put together a list of things I was interested in, people, science, food, and health, dietetics made sense. As I progressed through undergrad and was trying to figure out where I wanted to go within dietetics, my family life was also changing, and guided my decision making.
Describe a specific example(s) of your personal growth and development through your leadership experiences in college. See the help text for additional direction.
When I started my college journey I wasn’t sure how, but I knew I wanted to help people. After completing a nutrition course and I was amazed by the impact that nutrition has on the human body. It was then when I decided to pursue a career in Dietetics, I wanted mycareer to be applicable to my personal life. because I wanted to study something that would be applicable to my daily life. My family has struggled with Hypertension and Diabetes for a number of years, which also motivates me to learn about disease prevention through nutrition. I am passionate about nutrition and helping others achieve a healthy lifestyle and wellbeing through a healthy well balanced diet. I enjoy being exposed to new things that can expand my knowledge (move to a
I truly believe that our future will be brighter, healthier and happier if we create and implement better evidence-based public health practices today. UTHealth School of Public Health (UTHSPH) is the ideal institution for me to continue my studies and shape my career by completing a combined Masters of Public Health and Dietetic Internship (MPH/DI). When I began my post-baccalaureate career in nutrition, I was not entirely sure of what my career path might entail. I had previously studied communication and psychology, and had several years of experience as an event planner. I ached for a more purposeful career path, and had interest in the universal application of nutrition as a daily factor in individual’s lives.
I am interested in the Masters of Science in Nutrition and Integrative Health program offered at Maryland University Integrative Health. The unique holistic approach of the nutrition program is an aspect that I am very passionate about. I believe nutrition is a vital part of one’s well-being, and it plays an integral part in one’s overall longevity. In this essay, I will share with my interests in maintaining a healthy nutritious lifestyle, my long term goals both personally and professionally, and how an opportunity to obtain my masters in this program will fulfill my aspirations.