Hey guys! My name is Regina Smalls, a region 5 dietetic intern and URI student in Washington, DC! I have completed my Foodservice rotations and I am now about halfway through my clinical rotations. My internship experience has challenged me in the best way possible. I am getting a chance to learn a variety of management and leadership styles through working with different preceptors, and they have welcomed me like family. My first rotation was foodservice management, and the first week I was put on the production line. I was so worn out by the end of the week; I slept the entire day the following Saturday! However, I learned so much and got to build relationships with the food service staff, which has helped me as I address patients’ needs going through my clinical rotations. Through my foodservice systems analysis project, I have been able to make recommendations that improved food safety. My implementations are still being used long after my rotation has ended and it really makes me feel like I am making a difference and leaving a mark as I continue my learning experience. My clinical preceptors have been intentional in providing cases that will strengthen my knowledge and skill as I begin my career as a dietitian! My URI experience has been a great supplement to my learning and flows seamlessly into my rotation schedule. Time management is key! And the professors are always willing to help when you need it which is very encouraging and takes some of the pressure off. I am about half way through my dietetic internship and have already learned so much! I am excited for what is in store the next couple of months and am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow! As I start my clinical rotations, I am eager to continue to learn from my preceptors and see firsthand the profound impact a registered dietitian can have on someone’s life. After my clinical rotations I look forward to my long-term care, specialty, and community rotations. I am especially interested in the integrative nutrition specialty track to learn more about this emerging evidence-based area of practice for registered dietitians. Every rotation thoughtfully prepares interns to be successful dietitians and could not be happier with this internship.
Hi everyone! I'm Sasha, a dietetic intern in California originally from Beirut, Lebanon. This path to becoming an RD has been a long one for me, but the end is so near, and I could not be more excited. Since moving to the USA in 2017, I have had to redo classes AND redo an internship since what I did back in Lebanon was not accredited here. My previous experience is why I knew I wanted my concentration to be in critical care MNT- during my first internship, the ICU rotation was by far the most fulfilling one. The fact that I had to juggle this internship with a full-time job was definitely challenging. Between both, I was working 14–15-hour days, and as a result I got behind on my assignments. However, this has contributed invaluable experience, and the exposure and guidance I have received have given me an incredible opportunity for growth, both personally and professionally. What also helped me was having a great group of interns alongside me where we would get together and form study groups on zoom and motivate each other. Having a good support system is crucial, especially because it can get stressful at times. I appreciated the complexity of the cases in the ICU and I even had the chance to spend some time at a level III NICU. This was an amazing opportunity because everything is completely different in peds- the formulas and calculations, using growth charts, etc… I attended daily rounds on both units and worked with a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, social workers, speech-language pathologists, and more. In the ICU, it is essential to be familiar with disease states, medical terminology, and medications. You get to handle more difficult patients and health outcomes are highly dependent on nutrition support. There is immediate gratification from your interventions; for example, you get to see immediate improvement in a patient’s lab values once nutrition support is initiated. I plan in the future on getting my CNSC (critical nutrition support clinician) certification. Some tips for future interns are to keep an open mind, enjoy the experience, and let go of any expectations. Who knows- something you may not have been interested in while studying nutrition and dietetics may end up being your favorite rotation! Hi everyone! I’m Victoria, a region 2 Sodexo Dietetic Intern from Rhode Island. I have recently completed my internship rotations. Throughout my experience, I feel as though I have grown so much, both professionally and personally, and gained invaluable knowledge and experience along the way. Here are my five helpful tips for incoming or current interns:
Starting your internship will be both exciting and challenging. Just remember, stay positive, be open to new experiences, ad make the most of this valuable learning journey. Hello! My name is Ariane Chacker-Bourrut and I am a dietetic intern in region 1 in the Boston Area. So far, I’ve been enjoying the internship. The highlight so far was our orientation week in San Antonio, Texas, where I got to meet most of the interns from my year and gain confidence before rotations began. We had long days for orientation but would bond over dinner after the day was over. We performed a NFPE, which was helpful since I had only ever seen videos prior. This made me feel confident about starting my clinical experience later that year. My first rotation was Food Service Management at a university. My preceptor had started just a few days before my rotation began, so it was a learning experience for both of us! The picture here is from one of our popular tabling events, which we ran once per week. Together with the retail manager, we chose to have samples of sandwiches and salads they wanted to include in the grab & go section of the café. Samples were popular and we got great feedback, after which we decided which products to sell in grab & go for busy students. Now, I’ve just started my clinical rotation and can’t wait to start seeing patients! I’m most curious to see which of my rotations I enjoy most in order to make informed decisions about my career path. I’m keeping an open mind about each one, which allows me to really see if I like the environment for what it is. I’m excited for each and every one, and it has so far been an amazing experience. Hello, everyone! My name is Alexis, and I am a current URI/Sodexo intern! I just completed my foodservice rotation this week and had such a wonderful experience throughout this rotation. I got to experience everything from scheduling and purchasing, to catering and creating sales events. During this rotation, I had the opportunity to create a health and wellness promotion event that focused on in-season apples and recipes that utilize apples. This event was very popular and gained a high customer base throughout the month of October. I had a display of various apples, as well as showcased “Friday Feature” specials of a fall harvest salad and apple stuffed pork loin. Completing this opportunity helped me to understand how management works, because I had to go through the entire process from start to finish. I began with planning the event and creating handouts for the project. After that, I worked with the direct manager to get the event approved and with the purchasing manager to purchase everything I needed for the event. I planned out purchasing prices vs. selling prices for everything. Once everything was delivered, I was in charge of creating an eye-catching display and making the recipes that included apples throughout the event. Afterward, I was in charge of figuring out how much profit was made and how successful the event was. Overall, this event increased sales and popularity of the cafeteria throughout the month of October. Everyone was so excited about this event and the new items that were available in the cafeteria. I really enjoyed doing this event because it provided me with a lot of insight of management from the planning, execution, and conclusion aspects of event planning. I have enjoyed everything that I have had the chance to experience throughout this rotation and am thankful for the opportunities that Sodexo has given me thus far! I cannot wait to see where my clinical rotation takes me! Hello, future interns! I'm Yesenia Hayden, and a Region 12 intern from sunny San Diego, California. I'm excited to connect with potential interns and share my experiences. As I approach the completion of my internship, I reflect on a journey that has been both immensely rewarding and exceptionally challenging. One unique aspect of my journey is that I've been raising my daughter alongside my internship. When I first embarked on this path, my little one was just two months old. She's now eleven months old, and I’m amazed at her growth as well as my own personal and professional development throughout this incredible experience. I am deeply passionate about my journey in dietetics, and my dietetic internship has been a truly fantastic experience. Throughout this journey, I have received invaluable support and mentorship from my directors, and I have witnessed significant personal growth. My rotations have provided me with diverse learning opportunities, and I have particularly cherished my time in clinical settings. The exposure and guidance I have received from my preceptors have been nothing short of outstanding. While my dietetic internship is ongoing, I am eager to continue this learning experience. Despite the challenges, I believe that it has equipped me with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive on my path to becoming a Registered Dietitian. I am excited about the opportunity to further contribute my expertise and passion to the field of nutrition Hello! I am Rachel, an intern in region 12 from San Diego, CA. I have learned, experienced, and grown so much from this internship! As I come close to the end of this journey, I have gained a new form of confidence, and feel comfortable taking the initiative in leadership roles and projects. I felt so much fulfillment in my community nutrition rotation, conducting field trips, educating children on nutrition, and encouraging them to try new foods. I also am thankful that I got to experience this rotation in a diverse community, as I gained meaningful and necessary experience in determining what nutrition education and intervention is appropriate for a particular population, as well as the individuals in that population. Overall, I have cherished this internship and its experiences as a whole. Going into a dietetic internship with an open mind is extremely important, and has taught me that I am interested and capable in multiple areas of the field. Just as there were a great number of triumphs during my rotations, they also came with challenges. However, there was not one challenge I could not overcome. I am beyond excited to take the next steps in my dietetics journey, and am thankful for all the support and guidance from Sodexo for my internship. My advice to all future dietetic interns would be to stay curious, confident, ask questions, and absorb as much as you can, because what you get out of your internship experience is what you put into it. Hello, my name is Athena Apalis and I am a Region 12 dietetic student and intern in the San Francisco Bay Area, California! The Sodexo Dietetic Internship orientation in San Antonio, Texas has definitely been a highlight for me so far. It was very exciting to meet fellow interns and the directors from all across the nation in-person. I loved meeting other interns and sharing our unique experiences with each other. It can sometimes feel a little isolating as a dietetic student since there are so few of us but seeing so many other dietetic interns going through similar experiences made me feel less overwhelmed and more supported in my RD2Be journey. Connecting and creating new friendships has made me feel so inspired and even more appreciative of the orientation experience. One of my other favorite parts of the orientation was the nutrition-focused physical exam (NFPE) training because it was so hands-on. It made me feel more prepared, confident and ready for my clinical rotations, which I’ll be starting next month. Currently, I am two weeks into my foodservice management rotation in a corporate setting at a large Silicon Valley financial technology company and it has been an amazing experience so far! I was honestly nervous to start in a different nutrition setting than I was used to but I am so grateful that Sodexo gave me the opportunity to grow outside of my comfort zone. The team I work with was extremely welcoming and it was eye-opening to see what happens behind the scenes; I was impressed with how much work goes into foodservice management. Just yesterday, we successfully planned and executed a catering event for 3000 people, which was quite an experience! Now, I am currently working on my next project, which involves a cultural nutrition education event at my site that features plant-based recipes. I am eager to see how this event will turn out and share some valuable nutrition education with our clients! Even though I am only a few weeks into the dietetic internship, I am looking forward to all of the new experiences I’ll get through the Sodexo DI program. The rotations definitely offer a unique perspective into all of the different routes and options you can take as a future RDN. I’m excited to see what this year has to offer and being one step closer to the finish line on my RD2be journey! Hi everyone! My name is Brenna, and I am a Region 4 dietetic intern based in Philadelphia and am also completing a Master of Science in Dietetics degree at the University of Rhode Island. I’ve officially started my internship, completed my Patient Services hours, and am now working through the basic portion of my clinical rotation at a trauma center in NE Philly. It’s been an amazing learning experience so far! Every day brings new insights and valuable knowledge, and I am absolutely soaking it all up like a sponge. The team of experienced dietitians at this hospital are incredibly encouraging and supportive and will without a doubt be instrumental in helping me grow both personally and professionally. I’m having so much fun working alongside this talented group and applying what I’ve learned in undergrad in real-world situations. From medical nutrition therapy to patient counseling, every moment is a chance to make a positive impact on someone’s health and well-being. I’ve already experienced more complex cases and traumas than I expected to have had the opportunity to learn from this early in the internship and am excited to continue building on my clinical skills. I enjoy the involved process of assessing and working with complex patients as I get to put my problem-solving abilities to the test. Most recently, I began consulting patients on my own after having discussed the case with the dietitians as well as completing the EPIC flowchart, required notes, and supplement/diet orders mostly on my own for each patient I consult with. I leaned on advice from my mentor and peers to help reinforce my confidence in times of self-doubt as I began this journey. Some wise words that I’d like to pass along to anyone beginning the internship are to make sure you sleep, eat breakfast every morning, and thank your preceptor(s) a million times for their time and patience during your rotations. Additionally, stay curious and eager to learn, be open to learning from your preceptors’ and colleagues' experiences, and take time to build strong professional interdisciplinary relationships while starting to develop a network. I’m genuinely looking forward to the rest of the year, the specialty rotations (I’m looking at integrative wellness, leadership, and weight management), and all the incredible experiences that lie ahead. This internship is a really enriching experience, and I’m grateful for every opportunity I have to learn and grow. Remember: embrace the challenges, stay committed to your goals, and enjoy the journey! |