{"id":5502,"date":"2012-04-02T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T04:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/?p=5502"},"modified":"2015-10-22T10:20:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T14:20:15","slug":"my-path-big-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theleangreenbean.com\/my-path-big-news\/","title":{"rendered":"My Path & Big News!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Friends!<\/p>\n

It’s Monday. Probably the best Monday of my life. Wanna know why?<\/p>\n

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Oh, you can’t read that? Let me make it a little bigger for you!!<\/p>\n

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That’s right. Last night was match night for Dietetic Internships. First they make you wait 6 weeks from the time you submit your applications until the day you find out, AND THEN they make you wait until 7pm on match day to find out. It was torture! But it was all worth it because I matched \ud83d\ude42 And I’m one step closer to becoming a Registered Dietitian. For the first time I actually feel totally confident that it will happen. Getting matched to an internship was the one thing that’s been hovering over my head for the past 3 years that was at least partially out of my control. Now that I have a spot in an internship, I have no doubt that I can successfully complete the internship and then go on to\u00a0successfully\u00a0pass the RD exam!<\/p>\n

There are lots of different ways to become an RD. I thought this would be a good time to tell you guys a little bit more about me and the path I took. WARNING- long, rambling post ahead!<\/p>\n

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When I went to college for the first time, I attended a small, private university in Ohio. I majored in Psychology, graduated in 3 and a half years, had an awesome time and even met my hubby! After we graduated in December 2006, I went to work for a brand new preschool. I spent 6 months teaching 4 and 5 year olds all sorts of fun things. \u00a0I realized pretty quickly that it was not what I wanted to do with my life. I love kids and enjoy being around them. I just didn’t want a career as a teacher.<\/p>\n

One thing that really stuck out to me as I got to know my kids was their complete and total lack of nutrition education. So many of them had never had vegetables that I eat every day, like red peppers and sweet potatoes. Another thing that stuck out was their lack of physical activity. When I was a kid, I was constantly running around outside, playing tag and riding my bike. But when it came time for recess, these kids were choosing to just sit in the grass or sit in front of the computer.<\/p>\n

It made me sad. I started making little changes to my lesson plans so they could include things like fruit and veggie tastings and growing plants from seeds. At recess I introduced the kids to games like freeze tag and simon says to get them moving. When I left the preschool, I was more focused than ever on healthy eating and nutrition. About a month after I quit my job, the hubby and I got engaged (August 2007). I contemplated going back to school but knew that it would be too much to try to look for a job, go to school and plan a wedding. I promised myself that if I was still thinking about it after the wedding was over that I would do it!<\/p>\n

I started working for an insurance company after a few months (September 2007) and had a steady job there that I didn’t hate, but I definitely didn’t love. After we got married (September 2008), I realized that going back to school was what I needed to do in order to be truly happy. I researched programs in the area and decided to start at a community college since it was significantly cheaper but still had a reputable program. I applied, was accepted and enrolled to start classes in January of 2009.<\/p>\n

The first few quarters, I took 3 classes per quarter and worked 40 hours a week. I had three quarters before I could officially start the Diet Tech program so I used them to take prerequisite classes. And let me tell you, I had a lot of them. When I went to school the first time, I didn’t take any math or physical sciences. I hated them and wanted to avoid them at all costs. I didn’t really need them to be a pscyh major (which is why it was the best major to pick- in my opinion).<\/p>\n

That approach wasn’t going to fly this time around. The dietetics\u00a0curriculum is VERY science based. I had to take a lot of basic biology, chemistry and math classes before I could even start taking the courses required for the program.<\/p>\n

A Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR) does a lot of the same work an RD, but they must always work under an RD’s license. In the fall of 2009, when I officially started the Diet Tech program, we had someone from Ohio State come and talk to us about their RD program. I immediately realized that I wanted more independence than I could have as a Diet Tech, so I met with the necessary people to figure out what I needed to do to become an RD. Ohio State had an\u00a0agreement worked out with the community college which allowed me to finish the Diet Tech program and then transfer all of those credits over to OSU to get credit for courses in their program. Plus, I would be required to take many additional courses above and beyond the Diet Tech program for the RD program.<\/p>\n

Over the next six quarters, I whittled away at the list of courses I needed to complete. I had to take a different practicum each quarter to help complete the 450 hours of supervised practical experience that’s required to become a Diet Tech. We rotated through a long-term care facility, a WIC clinic, a school kitchen and a hospital. In December of 2010, I quit my job so that I could take more classes. We were spending 8-16 hours a week in practicums, plus going to several classes and it was getting too hard to make up the extra hours at work that I had to miss to go to class.<\/p>\n

In January 2011, I started taking classes at Ohio State as well. There were a few prereqs for the RD program that I couldn’t take at the community college. So, for two quarters I was taking classes at two schools and working part-time. In March 2011 I got a part-time job as a Diet Aide because I had no job related experience in the field and that’s pretty much a requirement for getting an internship.<\/p>\n

In June 2011, I graduated from the community college. I actually was the Valedictorian of my class (nerd alert!) and I had to give a speech in front of a couple thousand people. It was terrible! While completing the Diet Tech program and taking courses for OSU, I took 36 classes including TONS of math and science.<\/p>\n

Some of the classes I took:<\/p>\n