Community Rotations
As a part of one of our community classes, we had the privileged of going to different community sites around our city. I visited the local WIC office to observe client education, the local Head Start program to teach a short nutrition lesson to high-risk preschoolers, the senior center to volunteer in serving a congregate meal, and the local soup kitchen to serve a meal to clients there. This was a great experience because it gave me a brief overview of several community sites and the chance to interact with each clientele group. I learned from this experience that although all of the community sites would be fun to work at, I was particularly attracted to WIC and the Head Start programs. I really admire all that they do to help children have the best start in life and help their parents to connect with whatever resources they may need.
Head Start Observation Paper
As a part of one of our community classes, we had the privileged of going to different community sites around our city. I visited the local WIC office to observe client education, the local Head Start program to teach a short nutrition lesson to high-risk preschoolers, the senior center to volunteer in serving a congregate meal, and the local soup kitchen to serve a meal to clients there. This was a great experience because it gave me a brief overview of several community sites and the chance to interact with each clientele group. I learned from this experience that although all of the community sites would be fun to work at, I was particularly attracted to WIC and the Head Start programs. I really admire all that they do to help children have the best start in life and help their parents to connect with whatever resources they may need.
Head Start Observation Paper
Well Child Project
This project provided a unique opportunity to work with kids! I chose a child to study and took various anthropometric data as well as dietary data to analyze the child's growth and dietary behaviors. I also conducted a Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) to measure physical and cognitive growth. This was a really fun project because the child and his siblings thought it was a big game and so we had a good time "playing" together. Also, it was interesting because it taught me that in the community setting, not only is it difficult to get the whole picture from one visit, but it is tough to get parents to realize that they could improve the health of their child by being more diligent. It made me realize that explaining why change is important is vital because mothers and people in general are often times too busy to change.
Well Child Project
This project provided a unique opportunity to work with kids! I chose a child to study and took various anthropometric data as well as dietary data to analyze the child's growth and dietary behaviors. I also conducted a Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) to measure physical and cognitive growth. This was a really fun project because the child and his siblings thought it was a big game and so we had a good time "playing" together. Also, it was interesting because it taught me that in the community setting, not only is it difficult to get the whole picture from one visit, but it is tough to get parents to realize that they could improve the health of their child by being more diligent. It made me realize that explaining why change is important is vital because mothers and people in general are often times too busy to change.
Well Child Project
Pregnancy Project
Similar to the Well Child Project, I chose a pregnant woman to study in terms of weight gain and dietary patterns. This project taught me a few things, among them that sometimes there are a great deal many more things I want to teach people and have them change than is feasibly possible. It became apparent that it was most important to focus on what the patient can realistically accomplish and take it from there. A baby step is better than no steps. I also learned that there can be a lot of factors that affect the health of the mother and child in pregnancy and that it is important to have the big picture before proceeding with advise or treatment. For example, the woman I studied struggled with nausea and a severely inadequate food intake. If I had only focused on her food intake and not helping her symptoms improve, her food intake would never have increased.
Pregnancy Project
Similar to the Well Child Project, I chose a pregnant woman to study in terms of weight gain and dietary patterns. This project taught me a few things, among them that sometimes there are a great deal many more things I want to teach people and have them change than is feasibly possible. It became apparent that it was most important to focus on what the patient can realistically accomplish and take it from there. A baby step is better than no steps. I also learned that there can be a lot of factors that affect the health of the mother and child in pregnancy and that it is important to have the big picture before proceeding with advise or treatment. For example, the woman I studied struggled with nausea and a severely inadequate food intake. If I had only focused on her food intake and not helping her symptoms improve, her food intake would never have increased.
Pregnancy Project
Grant Proposal
In another one of my classes, we were given the real-life experience of completing some sort of project for some type of community program and writing a mock grant petitioning for resources to complete our project. My group chose to create a lesson plan teaching how to avoid foods high in added fats and sugars by reading nutrition labels and choosing healthy options. We ended up giving the lesson to mentally challenged adults aged 20-25. This was a great experience because it not only gave us the opportunity of writing a grant, but it also allowed us to gain experience with adapting lesson plans to the audience. We were not told anything about our audience until the day of and so had to adjust fairly rapidly.
Grant Proposal
In another one of my classes, we were given the real-life experience of completing some sort of project for some type of community program and writing a mock grant petitioning for resources to complete our project. My group chose to create a lesson plan teaching how to avoid foods high in added fats and sugars by reading nutrition labels and choosing healthy options. We ended up giving the lesson to mentally challenged adults aged 20-25. This was a great experience because it not only gave us the opportunity of writing a grant, but it also allowed us to gain experience with adapting lesson plans to the audience. We were not told anything about our audience until the day of and so had to adjust fairly rapidly.
Grant Proposal
Cultural Foods Presentation
To increase our awareness of other cultures around us, we were also assigned to work as a team to research a particular culture and report on our findings to the class. My group chose Muslims and we had a great time researching all different aspects of Muslim culture as well as how the culture affects food practices. It was very interesting to consider not only how their diets are unique because of their culture but also how we, as future healthcare professionals, should keep culture in mind so that we might work with other cultures effectively.
Cultural Foods Presentation
To increase our awareness of other cultures around us, we were also assigned to work as a team to research a particular culture and report on our findings to the class. My group chose Muslims and we had a great time researching all different aspects of Muslim culture as well as how the culture affects food practices. It was very interesting to consider not only how their diets are unique because of their culture but also how we, as future healthcare professionals, should keep culture in mind so that we might work with other cultures effectively.
Cultural Foods Presentation
Research Review Paper: Undernutrition and Female Fertility
I was given an assignment in a Nutrition Through the Lifecycle class to pick any topic regarding nutrition and its effects on a stage of life other than pregnancy and childhood. As these are the two topics I am most curious about, I was a little sad until I realized I could still study how nutrition affected female fertility because the women are not necessarily in the pregnancy stage. Although I was a little frustrated by the lack of a clear consensus, it was still interesting to learn and write about. More importantly, it helped me to get into the literature and try to find answers for myself.
Undernutrition Research Paper
I was given an assignment in a Nutrition Through the Lifecycle class to pick any topic regarding nutrition and its effects on a stage of life other than pregnancy and childhood. As these are the two topics I am most curious about, I was a little sad until I realized I could still study how nutrition affected female fertility because the women are not necessarily in the pregnancy stage. Although I was a little frustrated by the lack of a clear consensus, it was still interesting to learn and write about. More importantly, it helped me to get into the literature and try to find answers for myself.
Undernutrition Research Paper
