What is your major?
Nutrition and Dietetics
What is something you wish everyone knew about your major?
Let’s see, I think I have five things. The top #1. It’s not just the food or nutrition: it’s a science. 2. Chemistry and biology are going to be your very close personal friends along with building your Dietetic Internship Central Application Services (DICAS) portfolio. 3. You get to go from creating the “perfect” muffin, to balancing the books and sending out invoices and insurance reimbursements, to engaging in the right way to "scrub up" before even looking at food, to motivational interviewing with clients. Not to mention, there’s really so much more! 4. Becoming a nutrition and dietetics major is a great way to be able to make connections with and improving the wellness of individuals of all different ages in your community. Okay and most importantly #5: You’ll be learning and growing as you are challenged every step of the way. All you have to do is be brave and reply: Challenge accepted!
What was your most impactful class?
Can I say all of them here at SPU? Well, I’m going to. Since I came here in 2018 as a transfer student, impacts from each class began from taking my first survey of general chemistry and through to human anatomy & physiology and microbiology coursework. I found how much I was fascinated with further exploring disease states and conditions as it relates to applications to everyday life. Then I really enjoyed applying my experiences from the past including jobs and courses and expanding that perspective with food science, nutrition education and counseling, food production and management, medical nutrition therapy, and nutrition research. Each was so influential and helped me delve into my passion for my future as a registered dietitian. Observing and listening to each of my professors, I’m continually making connections between each subject matter, putting a puzzle together as I ask myself why it is so important to be doing what I am doing —becoming a registered dietitian. Having the fundamentals of chemistry and the more defined major courses has helped to build upon and understand all the key pieces. Each of these have been so impactful for filling in the gaps for how and where I see myself being able to make an impact in the lives of others, hopefully sometime in the near future.
What are some of your career goals?
I’m currently looking forward to being an SPU dietetic intern for 2021-22 school year. I will keep moving forward towards the path of a registered dietitian. I’m also planning the route of a PhD so that I can teach at a college level someday as well as work in the public health sector for nutrition information and food safety. In a world full of so many confounding factors, I intend to help individuals with taking significant steps for their own nutrition and health. Moreover, my goals are to continue working and advocating to improve the health and wellbeing of diverse families by increasing inclusion and access to resources across all communities, globally.
What advice do you have for incoming students?
Like I tell my three kids — besides practicing lots of self-love and self-care—advocate for yourself, communicate, and make efforts to build relationships with your peers and especially your professors. And go to every office hour. You’ll find that there are some truly amazing professors here at SPU that are here to guide you but also provide such a unique perspective to your own pursuits and goals. I also highly recommend becoming a TA, it has in so many ways helped me with my comprehension of concepts but also helped to build better connections with the SPU community. Plus, I don’t think I can stress this enough beyond that take advantage of all the FREE resources that this university has to offer to ensure your success during and after your degree. I’ve persevered through many obstacles to get to where I am today, not always feeling that I belonged, but since stepping onto the SPU campus from day one as a non-traditional student, it was like becoming part of a unique family and amazing community full of opportunities.