A New Chapter

Hey there!

I have some very exciting but bittersweet news to share with you….

I very recently decided to hang up my apron and accepted a position working in clinical dietetics.

It was very difficult for me to decide to leave my job as a school dietitian. I always thought I would stay in that field for my entire career, and my goal was to work at the state or federal level.

I am just at a point in my life where I am ready for a new challenge. I hope that everyone has worked with me knows how much I loved working in schools for the past 6 years. I will definitely miss menu planning, recipe testing, interacting with students and being with so many wonderful people.

Working with the free and reduced meal program taught me so much about food insecurity. I experienced many situations that completely broke my heart…

Students wanting to come to school on snow days because they don’t get much food at home.

A child asking to use his birthday money to purchase a hot meal at school.

A mom crying in my office because she barely missed the income requirement for reduced meals and could not afford to feed her child.

I have been through some rough times in my life but I’ve never had to worry about where my next meal would come from.

I believe that we can become better people by understanding the struggles of others. I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned in the past 6 years and hope to carry these lessons with me moving forward.

 

Even though it was hard to leave child nutrition and scary to jump into something different, I am excited to be starting a new chapter in my life. I have just started to get my feet wet at my new job and I really love it so far. I’ve left work most days feeling like I truly helped someone, and that is the whole reason I became an RD. While I know it will be challenging for me to reacquaint myself with many clinical concepts, I’m at a good point in my life to take on that challenge.

I hope that you stick around to follow me on this new journey! It will be interesting to see how I will end up adjusting my eating habits and exercise routine now that my commute has increased and I’m working a hospital schedule. It has been a challenge so far, but I’m hoping I’ll get the hang of things once I get more settled in my new job. I’ll keep you posted on that one

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day!

P.S.- I have a pretty funny post coming tomorrow as a farewell dedication to school food service.