Today@Sam Article
Dietetics Graduate Student Seeks To Serve Community
Sept. 26, 2019
SHSU Media Contact: Carla Clark
Andrea McDonald, a Dietetics graduate student, seeks to serve her community by teaching people how to eat better with the ingredients they have available. Andrea, along with her classmates, participated in recent cooking demonstrations in the new Family & Consumer Sciences test kitchen, using ingredients found at the SHSU Food Pantry to teach students how to use a microwave to make easy dishes that are also nutritional.
“I was glad to be accepted at SHSU because of the community rotation schedule that the program offers,” McDonald said. “The community aspect is where I want to serve.”
McDonald earned her B.S. in Dietetics at Prairie View A&M University before applying to Sam Houston State for her Master’s in order to become a Registered Dietitian.
Sam Houston State University’s Department of Family & Consumer Sciences offers both an undergraduate program in Food Science & Nutrition and a graduate program that combines the Masters of Dietetics with a Dietetics Internship program. Julina Book is the program’s new dietetic internship director.
“We are particularly excited about our new test kitchen because it will provide our interns with another option to complete their competencies and/or research in a creative and fun space,” Book said. “By working with the Food Pantry, we hope to provide students with creative ways to make nutritious meals in their dorm rooms.”
The program allows students to complete rotations in clinical, food service, and community nutrition settings to provide competencies as outlined by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). The students also have the opportunity to rotate with the Student Health Center and Recreational Center on campus. The Student Health Center’s doctors offers referrals to students for nutritional counseling by the Dietetics program graduate students. At the Rec center, students can talk to nutrition interns through one-on-one sessions or at tabling events.
The cooking demonstrations are available on the Food Pantry and College of Health Sciences social channels. Check out Andrea McDonald’s easy recipe for “Pho” below on the COHS YouTube Channel:
The Food Pantry offers 20 distributions every year. Students can pick up the recipes created by Dietetic interns at the Food Pantry distribution days. For more information, visit www.shsu.edu/foodpantry or follow the Food Pantry on Instagram and Facebook.
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