Professional Statement

     Each morning of high school was a struggle – getting ready, putting the scale away, wiping tears from my eyes, and gathering my things for the bus. It was another day where I decided enough was enough. I wanted to learn, dissect, and understand the one thing that consumed me, which was what I was consuming. I did not choose dietetics, dietetics chose me. I want to enter the dietetics profession to change the way people view food like no one has done before. I want to change people’s perspective on food so that we build healthy, intuitive eating, and food freedom. I knew that to do so I needed to explore the world of nutrition from various angles to find my passion within the broader topic.

     At eighteen I decided to backpack through Europe with my brother. I planned my trip by watching various seasons of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservation’s and jotted down all the must-see restaurants in the countries I was visiting. I knew that my obsession with counting calories and meal prepping had to end to truly experience our trip. I traveled to Ireland, Spain, England, Italy, Germany, and Prague that year and found a whole new appreciation for food, nutrition, and culture. I ate tapas with a family in Spain, drank wine with the owner of Hostaria di Bacco in Amalfi, Italy, and ate schnitzel with the locals at Wirtshaus Max and Moritz, in Germany. The list of incredible food memories was extensive, but still only the beginning of my journey into dietetics. That year I discovered food freedom and knew I was a couple steps closer to understanding what it meant to enter the dietetics world.

      That same year I was hired at Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge Medical Center, where I worked as a dietary hostess. There, I was able to get clinical experience and worked alongside registered dietitians to ensure patient meals were accurate, based off their prescribed diets. I learned about the various diets developed for individuals with specific diseases and how to approach tube feedings, understand food safety, and utilize medical terminology. This job helped prepare me for future courses as I began my dietetics degree at the University of Delaware. I feel the University of Delaware has prepared me in numerous ways to become the best dietitian I can be. I obtained hands-on experience with food safety in dining halls and gave educational lectures to third grade students about fruits and vegetables. I was fortunate to gain field experience while working one on one with the sports dietitians on campus and conducting mock nutrition consultations with graduates. I owe a lot of my knowledge to the university, which is why I choose the University of Delaware to complete my dietetic internship. The University of Delaware has also helped me decide the career path I strive to follow after graduation. While working with the sports dietitians on campus, I felt competent enough to offer my nutrition knowledge to a local fitness center owned by a current National Football League (NFL) player of the Carolina Panthers. I was offered the job as a nutrition coach and have been in love with it ever since. As a nutrition coach, I talk to student athletes on how to properly fuel their bodies, incorporating foods from each food group, and the importance of hydration and electrolytes. I love my job so much, and I owe it to the university for giving me the confidence I need to accomplish my goals. Having said that, my short-term goals are to continue networking and working with athletes in my current position, so that once I become a registered dietitian, I can implement my long-term goal of becoming a sports dietitian for a professional club or league.

      As I continue working at the fitness center, I aim to improve my public speaking skills while speaking to student athletes, in hopes to one day present to professional athletes. I am also working on improving my Spanish skills. As a Hispanic American, I am determined to become fluent in Spanish by the time I become a registered dietitian. This is very important to me, so that I may be able to give back to the community, as well as add more diversity within the dietetics world. In addition, I bring passion and personal experience that allows me to develop interpersonal connections with each client and develop an understanding of their challenges and goals. I not only use this compassion at work, but also when I volunteer for the community.

After completing my Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics in December 2021, I have recently been hired as the Lead Nutrition Assistant at the Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge Medical Center in New Jersey. I am excited to implement the skills and knowledge obtained from the University of Delaware, in my new position.

     Lastly, I use everything I have learned on myself. These experiences have pushed the young girl crying on the scale to becoming more confident in more ways than she could have ever imagined and shaping her into the young woman she is today.

     I look forward to bringing a sense of community, culture, clinical experience, sports nutrition knowledge, and ambitions to the University of Delaware’s dietetic internship program. Thank you, in advance, for your consideration.