Month: June 2019

One more week until the graduation from my nutrition internship (from the time I post this). I felt it was only appropriate to reflect back on my dianty hopes and dreams when I was applying to internships I wouldn’t say this is an excellent personal statement, so if any of you are considering taking inspiration from this to write your own, please know that while the personal statement isn’t the deciding factor in admission to an internship, it’s a nice chunk and I got accepted into my fourth choice of internship. Anyway, enough business. Let’s read and laugh at my poor innocent past me. …

Dear Director,

My reasons for wanting to enter the dietetics profession boil down to three points: making people smile, educating others, and seeing a positive change due to my actions. These three guiding factors led me to initially seek a career in the hospitality industry with a teaching certificate and plans to continue to occupational therapy school. Each of these separate career plans satisfy one or two of my desires for a career, but dietetics satisfies them all. Is there a happier person than someone with diabetes, renal disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other disease who is taught how to enjoy food in a way that will not harm them? Only better is the joy of a parent who learns and teaches their children how to prevent these diseases. That is reason one, two, and three right there and it is why dietetics is my chosen career.

The best experiences that have helped prepare me for a career in dietetics come from my various hobbies. These lessons include pushing past pain and doubt (running), letting go and believing in my abilities (singing), not being afraid to fall and get back up (skateboarding), and making mistakes beautiful (painting). However, my love of languages has taught me as much as all the others combined. I have seen people transform from shy and quiet to talkative and overjoyed when they have found out I speak the same language as them (Spanish). Being able to provide information and understanding to someone who expected none is a feeling unlike any other. Language forms connections and connections make anything possible among people.

Some of my short-term goals include getting matched to a great internship and applying my theoretical knowledge about nutrition to hands on practice. My long-term goals include becoming a licensed dietitian and working in schools by planning fresher more nutritious meals for children or working in the community through education.

Strengths of mine include relating to people well and being able to adapt to different situations. For example, one day I was managing the shops I work in and one of the workers from the smoothie shop next door (“Dee” for the purposes of this story) comes in sluggishly and clearly not herself. I talk to her and find out that she’s been having some stress at home. After a couple of minutes and some successful jokes on my part, she wanders out and back to her shop. I take a moment and talk to a co-worker with experience at the smoothie shop where Dee works. With this co-worker’s permission, I offer Dee the chance to work with me for the night. She takes it and spends the rest of the evening laughing and joking while she works with the rest of the crew. I could see that Dee needed people in that moment, so I did what I could to provide that to her while making sure both shops were not neglected in the process.

As far as weaknesses, the one I have noticed by far is socializing with new people. I do very well speaking to a person one on one and even better when speaking to someone I have known for a long time, but when it comes to groups and new people it does not come naturally to me. The best thing I have done to combat this is staying at my seasonal job as a cashier over three years. Every summer that I go, I dread putting myself in a situation where I may speak to countless strangers for eight hours a day, but every fall that I return to school, I see how much my people skills have progressed. By striving to improve this area, I now feel confident about going into the field of dietetics that emphasizes working with various new people.

El servicio a la comunidad es muy importante para mí. Cuando estaba en la preparatoria solía hacer trabajo voluntario cada sábado. Aunque me he enfocado más en mis estudios y mi empleo en mis años de colegio, espero hacer servicio a la comunidad una gran parte de mi vida al graduarme. Su programa con enfoque en la comunidad sería manera excelente de regresar a esa pasión mía. Yo hablo español fluido y he estudiado lectura y escritura desde mi primer año de preparatoria hasta mi último año de universidad. Tengo confianza que podré adaptarme bien a vivir en Puerto Rico y me emociona tener la oportunidad de sumergirme en la lengua española. Entiendo que el Departamento de Salud del gobierno de Puerto Rico busca a los aplicantes más cualificados que tomarán ventaja del programa riguroso de internado. Le puedo asegurar que yo soy una de esas aplicantes calificadas. Gracias por su atención. Espero escuchar de usted pronto. No dude en mandar correspondencia con cualquier pregunta que tenga.

Kind regards,

Laura Gómez

(Yes… I took a chance and wrote the last paragraph in Spanish. I figured this internship is in Puerto Rico, I want to show the director that I have mastery of the language. I know the internet is great and can translate stuff, but below will be my translation of the last paragraph.)

Community service is very important to me. When I was in high school I used to do volunteer work every Saturday. Although I have focused on my education and employment during my university years, I hope to make community service a big part of my life upon graduating. Your program with a community focus would be a great way to return to that passion of mine. I speak fluid Spanish and have studied reading and writing since my first year of high school to my last year of university. I am confident that I will be able to adapt well to life in Puerto Rico and I am excited to have the opportunity to immerse myself in the Spanish language. I understand that Puerto Rico’s Department of Health seeks only the most qualified candidates to take advantage of their rigorous internship. I can assure you that I am one of those qualified applicants. Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon. Feel free to reply with any question you may have.

All of that is basically still true, except maybe the first paragraph. I think that can be true, but the real reason I chose dietetics is because it was an easier way to become a health professional without going through years of med school. Also because food is fun and the profession is very diverse, so with a little searching, I will be able to find a job I, at the very least, don’t despise. That’s the short version. (Click here for the long version.)

Anyway, I hope that was somewhat entertaining. One more week until the graduation!! And then less than a week until I take a plane back to good ol’ Texas! 😀

P.S. Haha!! The notebook titles (from my classes my last year of university) make a lot of sense to describe my experiences this year during the internship! XD