​Hi Everyone! I’m Jenna Copley and I’m an intern in region 1. I am currently placed in my leadership concentration in clinical nutrition management at UMass Memorial Health Alliance in Leominster, MA. So far, I have finished my community rotation with SNAP at a Local Farmers in Falmouth, MA, and my food service management rotation at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. The internship has been chaotic in the best ways possible. My favorite part about this internship is that I have been able to get a diverse view of our field in so many different settings. All of my preceptors have had experience with interns and have been incredibly welcoming. 
 
In my concentration, I spend most, if not all, of my time with the hospital CNM. There is truly no typical day! Some days are spent detailing specialized diets or learning how the hospital system will staff and operate its new outpatient diabetes program or even working in the kitchen! Last week, we were able to provide over 2,300 meals over 5 days to over 500 staff to take home to their families as a show of appreciation for our healthcare workers. In our small kitchen, this is no small feat. In preparation for IDDSI to go live in the hospital on March 1st, I’ve sat in on meetings with nurse educators and speech therapists to discuss training. I’ve also worked with the kitchen to modify our main courses to be IDDSI compliant. I’ve been helping to work out bugs with our new system for taking food orders in patient's rooms called Healthtouch. I even made a Healthtouch training guide for future new hires (and most likely interns). This is just what I’ve done in the last 3 or 4 weeks! My preceptor has really kept me involved in everything that she does. 
 
I’ve truly loved my experience so far with Sodexo. I am continuously blown away by how much I didn’t know that I didn’t know. I’ve really been able to thrive in the fast-paced, constantly changing environment. My advice to future interns is to be open to everything as it comes. Say yes to everything! 

​Hi everyone! My name is Maggie Carpenter and I am a region six dietetic intern in Elkin, North Carolina. I’m currently in my clinical rotation at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital.
 
Going into the dietetic internship can be nerve racking enough, but when you add in the uncertainty of COVID it takes it to another level. I never imagined that I would complete my internship during a global pandemic, but here I am! Although it has presented challenges along the way, I am so thankful to have amazing preceptors and an equally amazing internship director that have provided guidance and support throughout this experience.
 
At the beginning of my clinical rotation, I wasn’t able to come into the hospital due to the COVID restrictions the hospital had in place for students. Rather than turning me away, my preceptors were able to get me set up to work from home. Although it is not how I envisioned my clinical rotation, I was able to learn and also experience the challenges that many dietitians have faced while working from home during the pandemic.
 
After a few weeks, I got the best news – I was able to come to the hospital for the remainder of my clinical rotation! As I have progressed through this portion of the internship, I have had the opportunity to work in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. From the beginning, I expressed an interest in oncology and my preceptors arranged for me to work in the radiation oncology clinic at the hospital. I’ve really enjoyed getting to work with this patient population and feeling like I’ve made a difference in how treatments have affected their nutritional status.
 
I cannot express how grateful I am to have preceptors that have encouraged me and helped me build my confidence as a future dietitian. I’m so happy to have been matched to such a great program that boasts its flexibility and allows me to individualize my supervised practice hours to help me meet my goals!

Hello, my name is Elisabeth Bass and I am a region five Sodexo dietetic intern. I am also in the master’s program with the University of Rhode Island. I have been working on my community rotation through virtual and in person activities. The community rotation has been a good opportunity for me to work with different people and learn new skills.

The most exciting opportunity I have had so far in the internship was participating in a new Sodexo project. I collaborated with individuals from the SOL and PANG groups, along with another Sodexo intern and Registered Dietitian (RD). The first webinar took place in December 2020. The topic was healthy holiday eating. I discussed healthier food swaps and created two cooking demo videos on recipes I modified. It was a great experience modifying the recipes and making the videos. Combining creativity and nutrition knowledge for this project was an enjoyable experience. The interest in this project is high, and approximately 200 individuals attended the webinar. The team I worked with gave constructive feedback and was very supportive.

Overall, the feedback was positive. Participants enjoyed hearing about healthier food swaps, and why to make the swaps. I found one comment particularly encouraging. The participant enjoyed hearing about the food swaps, and learning about food from a different perspective. As a future RD, I found it encouraging that one participant learned to try to look at food from different perspectives. A few participants decided they wanted to try one of the modified recipes, which I also found exciting.  
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The Sodexo project gave me an opportunity to learn more about cooking demonstrations, video editing, and how to give practical advice to patients or clients. One of my long-term career goals is to use cooking demonstrations and similar practical tools to benefit the people I serve. Getting to practice with this project helped me realize where to focus my efforts to improve. I’m grateful for this opportunity, and the people I worked with. I gained confidence learning a new skill, and seeing the impact it can have. 

Hi everyone! My name is Ana Veloso and I am in Region 4. I began my internship journey at Capital Health, a moderately sized hospital system with two campuses. One campus is located in Pennington, NJ (Hopewell Campus) and the other campus is located in Trenton, NJ (Regional Campus). During my first week, I was lucky enough to be able to spend time with a fellow intern, Erica. We discussed how nervous we were during our lunch breaks, how we kept getting lost in the hospital, and how fast things were changing. Fast forward to today, I just completed my first week of the intermediate clinical rotation. 

My experiences with clinical nutrition have been surprising, to say the least. I never imagined I would enjoy nutrition in the context of a fast paced, clinical setting. I love the counseling part of nutrition, and that is what originally drew me to the field. I enjoy making a connection with others by getting to know them on a deeper level and empowering them to reach their goals. And this rarely happens in a clinical setting. In acute care, food is rarely the patient’s top priority. I have encountered patients who were emotionally distressed and refused medical care. Other patients had altered mental status and could not verbalize their needs, much less comprehend the questions that compose a nutrition assessment. Most often, patients are apathetic to the brief nutrition counseling we provide. However, I have also met patients who desire so much to get better that they listen intently and ask for more information. And these are the patients who give me energy and brighten up my day.​

Today, I see less of Erica as we typically change between campuses. We still share our experiences and reassure each other when we are in doubt. We have our favorite preceptor and the one that we are both extra nervous around. There is so much I have learned in the past couple of months and I am extremely grateful for the experience and knowledge my preceptors have shared with me.

Hello current and future dietetic interns, faculty, and friends! My name is Annamarie Saracino-Fox, and I’m a region 4 Sodexo dietetic intern located in Philadelphia, PA. During orientation back in September, the Sodexo faculty made a few remarks that have since stuck with me - “say yes to new experiences”, and “do a little something each day as you work towards your goals.” I have kept these recommendations in my back pocket as I navigate through each rotation, and I suggest you do the same.

I started my Sodexo internship journey in my basic clinical rotation at an acute rehabilitation hospital in New Jersey. Like many of you, I was extremely nervous to begin with clinical, but was warmly welcomed and made to feel like a solid team player, eager (and prepared) to assess, treat, and chart on a wide range of disease states. My clinical preceptor was kind, thorough, and most of all patient when educating me on the hospital’s systems and processes, as well as various MNT techniques. I never imagined that I would be diagnosing malnutrition in one of the first patients I was assigned to - this was my catalyst to “saying yes” and immersing myself in all that clinical nutrition has to offer.

After completing my basic clinical rotation, I moved into my wellness concentration where I worked alongside and was mentored by a private practice dietitian. Here, I was given the opportunity to research and create an online course focused on food allergies and intolerances, which was an exciting first for me. I should mention that I am considered a nontraditional intern, and my background is in marketing and communications. This wellness concentration allowed me to marry my marketing and communications background with nutrition and health, which was truly a fulfilling experience.

​I am now in the final week of my foodservice management rotation, and time is absolutely flying (just as Sodexo faculty said it would!). I recently hosted my “Superfood Spotlight” retail event, where the menu and marketing materials highlighted immune-boosting foods – a relevant theme during cold and flu season. I am happy to report that the event went off without a hitch, brought in 20 additional customers than usual, and most importantly brought employees together amidst both the pandemic and madness of the holiday season.
As I now prepare for my intermediate clinical rotation while also crossing the halfway mark of my required internship hours, I am reminded of the importance of “doing a little something each day.” Whether that be big or small, every little bit helps in the grand scheme of the internship. Other pieces of advice I’d like to impart – make every single day count, be confident, and know you are fully capable.  ​

Hello! My name is Krystsina Marhunova and I am a Region 3 intern based in Westchester County, NY. I began my internship journey late September 2020 and am currently about two and a half months into my journey of being a dietetic intern. The experience so far has been wonderful as I have been exposed to different parts of dietetics such as foodservice management and community. The rotations I have completed so far have provided me with a lot of hands-on learning experiences that have been eye opening in terms of potential career opportunities. Although I still have more rotations to complete, I have found myself enjoying each one as I have been able to go at my own pace. The majority of my foodservice hours were done on-site, but I struggled with finding community preceptors. During this time, my internship director was very supportive, and the flexibility of the internship allowed me to complete my community hours virtually through simulations and working with an RD online.
 
My first rotation was foodservice management at New York Presbyterian- Lawrence Hospital. I had previous experience in foodservice and marketing throughout my undergraduate studies, and I was excited to start off the internship with something familiar! During my time at NYP, I was able to take part in different projects as well as learn the responsibilities held by the managers, supervisors and employees. Due to COVID-19, the cafeteria was strictly open to employees only, but I was still able to learn both front and back of house operations. The projects throughout the rotation exposed me to different parts and provided learning experiences such interviewing patients, conducting audits with managers, working in a team to develop menus and participate in ordering while also working independently. This helped in building my confidence and skills as a potential foodservice manager.  While completing this rotation, I was also able to apply my nutrition knowledge as I worked on a project to implement nutrition fact labeling on to go items in the cafeteria. Lastly, one of my favorite parts of the rotation was organizing a wellness event where I was responsible for the development of the menu, ordering, supervision of food prepping and handling while also completing the marketing. 
 
Prior to starting your rotation, you are assigned a mentor to help guide you through your internship journey. I was fortunate to have an amazing mentor who was open to answering any questions or concerns as she was once in my shoes too. Connecting with my mentor also helped me in networking, collaborating with others and learning about potential career opportunities I didn’t even know were a possibility! Although I still have more rotations to complete, I look forward to all the new experiences I will have in the future as I continue to explore career opportunities and finding a specialty that fits me!

Hi, my name is Jessica Mangieri and I am a region 3 intern based out of Long Island, NY.  I began my internship in September with my patient services and food service rotation at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, NY.  Before coming into my food service rotation, I was a Dietetic Technician where I worked closely with the food service staff so I had a good background going into this rotation.  During this rotation I was paired with another Sodexo dietetic intern, which made my experience even better.  It was nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of. 

Currently, I am in my clinical rotations at Mount Sinai South Nassau.  I am in my second week of intermediate clinical.  Before the start of my clinical rotation, I was very nervous.  I was nervous about not knowing information, but you have to remember this is what you are here for, to learn!  I have already learned so much being here and I am still learning every single day.  All the dietitians here are great; everyone is eager to teach and help.  I followed the RD for two days to see how they screened and assessed each patient before I started to try to assess these patients myself.  Starting, I definitely needed some guidance, but now I am writing my own concise notes about these patients.  It feels good to know how to provide the best nutrition care for each patient.  Assessing all different patients and different diseases has led me to realize that I really enjoy helping heart failure patients.  Heart failure is a disease that can be preventable by lifestyle changes.  Although heart failure cannot be cured, it can be treated to help improve symptoms.  I have had the experience to educate patients on heart failure multiple times now.  Educating patients in a hospital can be difficult and I’ve had good experiences and bad, but as time goes on I am improving my education skills, which makes me feel more confident. 

The rotations really do fly by.  I cannot believe I am already mid-way through my clinical rotation. It’s crazy!  One thing I would recommend to future interns is to make sure you are on top of your work and stay organized.  Overall, I am having a great experience with Sodexo and the directors are great.  Never be afraid to reach out and ask questions because they are always there to help.    

​Hi everyone, my name is Brittany Wujek! I am a region 1 intern, currently completing my clinical rotation at St. Joseph’s hospital in Nashua, NH. Initially, the clinical setting was very intimidating. Prior to this rotation, I’ve had little hospital experience and COVID-19 only added to the anxiety. However, I learned quickly that I had a very supportive set of preceptors who made sure I felt comfortable and safe in this new clinical environment. Not only this, but my preceptors also made it an everyday priority to foster the growth of my clinical nutrition knowledge and skill set. Throughout this rotation, each day I have seen entirely different patients. One day could be a diabetes education, while another could be a malnutrition screen where I would perform a nutrition focused physical exam and, on another day, I could be calculating tube feed recommendations for a patient in the ICU. Since beginning this rotation back in September, I have left the hospital everyday having learned something new as well feeling more confident in myself as nutrition professional!

During my clinical rotation, I’ve had the opportunity to create two nutrition related bulletin boards. One (very appropriately) focusing on nutrition with COVID-19 and the other centered around cancer and nutrition which is planned to be placed in the cancer center at St. Joseph’s Hospital. While developing these boards, I investigated how COVID-19 as well as cancer affect a person’s nutritional status. I narrowed down the most important things a person could do for their health and nutrition and created an eye-catching display that would leave a lingering thought in the minds of passersby. Through creating these boards, I was able to research and dive into what specifically the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and A.S.P.E.N recommend for nutrition with COVID-19. Being that this virus is new and affecting millions of lives, as a nutrition professional, being able to practice with evidence-based data as well as provide that information to a very tense public (rightly-so) is crucial. Through researching COVID-19, I was granted a unique opportunity in offering nutrition-focused insight to a member of the nursing staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital. One of the nursing staff members was questioning whether a patient could be enterally fed in the prone position. Knowing a proned patient can be enterally fed, I initiated a discussion, explaining what the evidence by the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N) said as well as explained why continued nutrition support is important, especially in a critically ill patient with a COVID-19 infection. Even in that brief encounter, I was proud that I had the knowledge to advocate for the role of nutrition in patient care! ​

​Hello everyone! My name is Hana, and I’m currently an intern in Sodexo region 11 in Denver, Colorado. I wanted to share about the great experience I had with conducting my Retail Marketing and Wellness Project during my Food Service Management rotation.
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For this project, I developed a fall-themed soup bar (for the first week of November) and provided hospital employees with education on Sodexo’s Mindful meal choices, which involve healthy meal selections that meet specific nutrition criteria determined by Sodexo dietitians. The soup bar featured three soups with Mindful options, a choice of 10 toppings, and three bread items—all of which were made in-house. The feedback from the customers was great: they were excited about having a new food option, they loved the fall theme and the offering of soup on a cold day, and they were very receptive to the education regarding Mindful by Sodexo. Most employees knew about the existence of the Mindful choices, but did not know what Mindful meant and decided that they would like to choose Mindful foods more often! It was rewarding to hear that my education was informative and influential in helping employees to make healthy meal choices in the future.

​Hi everyone! I’ve just finished up my clinical rotation at King’s County Hospital, Brooklyn and I will be starting my staff relief next week! It’s been the most amazing experience I’ve ever had, and I wish it could continue.
 
I have seen a variety of diseases that I would’ve never imagined. My preceptors have helped me learn so much in such a short amount of time that it has opened up so many options for me. I’ve been working with every possible population of patients I can think of; CHF, Oncology, ESRD, MICU, SICU, Peds ICU, NICU and even COVID-19 patients. My most proud rotation was doing parenteral nutrition for preemie babies. It was so awesome to learn TPN for such small babies (under 700 grams!) that I decided to ask for extra time on it. Being exposed to pediatrics and the NICU, which is extremely lucky for an intern, taught me that I have a passion for it. For my concentration, Critical Care MNT, I will be helping to update NICU feeding protocols according to the latest research and helping the attendings better understand the nature of TPN.
 
This experience has been very validating to know that I enjoy the clinical inpatient setting. Constantly having new patients and learning to work with so many different people at once is thrilling. It’s so exciting to constantly be on my toes, trying new things to suit the patient’s needs best. Tube feeds have become second nature to me!
 
I feel that I’m getting exactly what I’m putting into this experience, and it’s been a privilege. Sodexo has been amazing in helping me ensure that my experience is the best it can be. I feel so lucky every day when I enter the hospital and get to learn from the smartest people how to do the job I love. I felt nervous starting this internship that it wouldn’t measure up to what I imagined in real life, but it’s been even better. It sounds cheesy, but it’s 100% true. I feel very confident in my choice, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.