More than 100 nutrition students recently descended on the Texas A&M University campus for more insight into careers, graduate programs and dietetic internships during the recent Nutrition and Dietetic Career Workshop and Fair, NDCW, in College Station.
The workshop and fair, which is hosted by the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Nutrition, is a student-run event drawing attendees from throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
Students who attended the event had the opportunity to meet with registered dietitian nutritionists, RDN, from various areas of industry, as well as directors of graduate and dietetic internship programs. It also featured 30-minute presentations by RDNs from DairyMAX, Central Texas VA Healthcare System, Beacon Nutrition, H-E-B, Texas A&M Performance Nutrition and the Bryan Independent School District.
“Students came here for a day-in-the-life experience,” said Lauren Kmiecik, a senior nutrition student and student director for the event. “They had the chance to speak with representatives from different programs who attended the fair, and they had opportunities to network with industry professionals and fellow students.”
Students taking the lead
Kmiecik, along with her co-chairs and committee members, were responsible for every aspect of this year’s event from registration to lining up sponsors and speakers.
In all, 21 different dietetic programs participated in the fair to meet with attendees, which Kmiecik called a huge increase from previous years.
Students also had the opportunity to receive training from the Texas A&M University Career Center on how to interview and dress for those interviews.
“We do require professional dress at the event so that students are getting a brief look into how you are supposed to dress and interact and present yourself,” Kmiecik said. “It is a very good long-term resource. They are building their communication skills and really enhancing their professional abilities.”
Karen Beathard, Ph.D., RDN, instructional associate professor and Didactic Program director in the Department of Nutrition who served as the advisor for the event, said she was impressed by the student leaders who ran this successful event.
“They’ve made all the contacts and did a really great job of reaching out to various commodity groups and companies for sponsorships,” she said. “We had luggage tags from the National Peanut Board, stress cows from DairyMax, and informational fliers from the Watermelon Board. The Texas Beef Council, National Pork Board, Aggieland Credit Union and Sedexo also sponsored items such as workshop handbooks, tote bags and professional headshots of participants.
“This experience was another learning and networking opportunity to go along with the teamwork that goes into planning and hosting an event.”
More about the event
The event, in its 15th year, was started by Beathard after she heard about a similar event being held by the Massachusetts Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Beathard coordinated the first event at Texas A&M, which focused solely on the Aggie students. Students have since taken the lead in planning and implementing the event and expanded it to include other universities.
“In talking to friends who are dietetic students at other universities, they tell me they don’t have this at their university,” Kmiecik said. “They come here because it is hard as a dietetic student to go tour and talk to someone about these programs. Having them in one spot helps to narrow down which ones they want to tour.”
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