Back when I was a freshman at American University, just starting my undergraduate journey, I wanted to become more involved in the field of nutrition. Our dining services were changing, and there was a meeting being held for people with special dietary restrictions about what to expect with our new foodservice provider. Being gluten and lactose intolerant, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to attend. This was the first time the university had hosted a dietitian on campus, and even though I was the only student in the panel discussion audience, I didn’t let that intimidate me from going up to the panelists after the presentation. We ended up talking for quite some time, and after I expressed my future goal of becoming a registered dietician/master of public health, they gave me their emails for if I ever had any questions about my career path.
After speaking with the panelists, my head kept spinning and I knew I had to take advantage of the connections I had just made. I sent emails inquiring after becoming involved with them on campus and, soon after, I was put in contact with the university's Director of Operations, who created a paid intern position for me with a campus dietitian. I was ecstatic about this opportunity to gain exposure to a college campus dietitian’s role.
Little did I know that inquiring about a possible internship would turn into a three-year job working with a campus dietitian. Over the years I was given more responsibilities, such as planning and helping the campus sustainability chef to facilitate monthly cooking demonstrations for about 100 faculty/staff, creating recipes that were put into a national recipe database, making food labels and highlighting special allergens, creating a weekly spotlight in the dining hall on campus and much more. All of the experiences I received were because of the dietitian I worked with, Jo-Ann Jolly, MPH, RD/LDN, whose guidance and constant support allowed me to gather one of the best experiences I have had in the nutrition field.
My internship allowed me to not only gain unique experiences early on in my career, but to develop a work-family that I could turn to whenever needed, and a bond with a successful, hard-working dietitian who is now a lifelong friend and role model to me on my journey to becoming an RD/MPH.
Cassidy Pont is a second-year Master of Public Health student in the University of Michigan School of Public Health’s Nutritional Sciences Department, where she is working to obtain her Registered Dietitian credential. In the future, Pont plans to work in a community setting systemically impacting children’s health via food and nutrition and will continue writing communications pieces to spread her knowledge about nutrition and public health.