Featured Intern: Finding My Niche in the Dietetic Internship

Currently, I am in my public health rotation at WIC (Women, Infants, and Children). I go to the WIC community centers, and evaluate the children and mothers when they are of high nutritional/health risk. Most frequently, we see a lot of obesity due to high juice/soda consumption. About a third of the clients are solely Spanish-speaking. I have seven years of Spanish behind me; I enjoy practicing my language skills with the clients. Most importantly, I like the idea of being able to make a real difference for people in my job. These clients come in to the center with a variety of nutritional concerns, and we are able to educate/motivate them so that they leave the center with different goals.

A lot of interns in my program have complained about this rotation. I don’t think the majority of dietitians strive to work in public—it is not a glamorous career path. However, I think it can be one of the most rewarding. As a dietitian you may see 25 clients per day, and of those 25 you know that you changed the health and potential happiness of at least 5 clients. The other 20 may not listen to you, but you can bet that some of these people want to live healthily and want the best for themselves and their children. In addition, I like the variety of people you get to see in one day. Some days a woman will come in and tell you all about her C-section, and other days you will meet a 3 year old with failure to thrive.

So far, I think I would truly enjoy working at WIC even if it doesn’t pay as much as other positions. I will see how the remainder of this rotation pans out, and decide where I want to be in my career. And if anyone has any experience working in WIC or public health I would love to hear about it!