Victoria Hall - Region 2

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:
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1. Time Management: Staying organized and prioritizing tasks is the key to success during the internship, especially if you are pursuing graduate school alongside it like I did. I found using a planner and color-coding it to be the most helpful. I assigned different colors for the internship bookwork, the internship in-person, and graduate school tasks. Writing down deadlines helped me easily identify what assignments were due and when. Choosing to work on one task at a time can help you focus better and feel less overwhelmed. . I chose to break down larger assignments, like the clinical packets, into smaller, more manageable chunks – this was a game changer. For example, if I had a clinical packet with 30 questions due in 10 days, I would aim to answer three questions per day. This approach made these longer assignments less overwhelming.
2. Take Initiative: Don’t wait for your preceptors to offer you opportunities, be proactive in seeking opportunities to learn and contribute in areas that interest you. During my internship, I was interested in hosting public evets, so I offered to do this at each rotation. Additionally, organization is one of my strong skills, so during my clinical rotation I offered to re-organize our training manual, diet education information, IDDSI manuals, and create an in-service for employees to attend with the updated information. Going the extra mile here will set you apart from other interns. 
3. Ask Lots of Questions and Take Notes: During my internship, I asked numerous questions and wanted to avoid repeating them. I found it worked best to carry a notebook, divided into sections for each rotation, that allowed me to write down any questions I had and record the responses for future reference.
4. Embrace Challenges: Some tasks or rotations may seem scary at first, but they offer incredible opportunities for growth and learning. Shift your mindset to view challenges as chances to expand your skillset. Push yourself to try one thing out of your comfort zone during each rotation. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed or face setbacks, but these can all be a valuable learning opportunity. Stay resilient and be kind to yourself throughout the process.
5. Enjoy the Experience: Let go of any expectations you had prior to going into the internship and take a moment each day to reflect on what you appreciate about that day/rotation. Your chat group is a great opportunity to connect with others going through the same experience and can provide you with different perspectives.

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. 

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