A Wise Owl Once Said...

You’ve reached that point.

Maybe you’re in the “action” stage, having been accepted into an internship program and actively getting ready for your start date. Congrats!

Perhaps you’re in the “preparation” stage, searching for programs that will best fulfill your goal of becoming an RD.

Possibly you’re one of those “contemplation” stage type-A students that still has a few years left of undergrad and can’t help but begin the DI search now. (Can’t say I relate, but I see you!)

Heck, you may even be in the “maintenance” stage, a fellow intern looking to identify (commiserate?) with another’s experience. I’m with you, comrade. We got this.

Wherever you may be, if you’re reading this you’re likely searching for insight on what it’s really like to be a dietetic intern. To take it a step further and address the elephant in the room: What it’s really like to be a dietetic intern amidst a global pandemic.

While I can’t speak on behalf of us all, I would like to share a few tips into what my experience has been like. Having recently completed the internship program (woo!) I confidently admit I’m a pretty reliable source for this information – a wise intern owl, if you will – weathered by 10 months of supervised practice, yet still fresh to the experience. Hoot.

Tip #1[endif]--: Don’t try to go through it alone.

There is no one else in the entire world who is going to fully

understand what it’s like to be a dietetic intern, other than your fellow dietetic interns. If you are as fortunate as I am to be in a DI that largely centers around cohort community, lean into that.

If you’re in a program that is less cohort-focused, I highly advise creatively seeking ways to find that sense of community elsewhere. Set aside time to regularly email/Zoom fellow interns in your program, join intern Facebook groups, or reach out to friends you went to college with who are also now interning.

With COVID-19 completely turning the internship process upside-down, I can’t tell you how much it has helped to share the experience with my fellow interns. Our virtual Monday Seminar and casual Friday Zoom “happy hour,” have helped maintain a sense of normalcy during these crazy times. While I sincerely hope you never have to experience interning during an unprecedented pandemic, having a community built to support you as trials come up during the program has value far beyond numbers, which leads me to… ![endif]--

Tip #2: Lean on your fellow interns’ strengths.

Once you become a dietitian, you’ll hopefully enter the workforce in an area you’ve identified that utilizes your strengths the most. Part of the internship process is designed to help you identify what those strengths are, and often that process requires working in several areas that show us what our strengths aren’t.

While it’s a super important part of the process, working in rotations that highlight our weaknesses can obviously be incredibly challenging. Enter: your fellow dietetic intern community!

[endif]--Of the ten interns in our cohort, we each showed up with varying strengths, backgrounds, and interests. I can’t tell you how many times I was working on a culinary-related project (a major weakness of mine), and was so fortunate to be able to reach out to a couple of the interns with extensive culinary background for helpful advice. I strongly feel that I learned just as much from the strengths of my fellow interns as I did from being in the rotations themselves. ![endif]--

Tip #3 There’s ALWAYS a silver lining. The more you practice identifying it, the more impactful all experiences will become.

This is a bit of a lengthy one. But hear me out.

Folks, it isn’t news that being an intern can be really hard.

Like, really hard.

In life, it’s normal to have big expectations. Especially going into something as big as a dietetic internship. Sometimes when things don’t go as we envisioned, we feel sad and disappointed, a.k.a mourning the “should” behind the expectation, which is also 100% normal.

I’m here to tell you today that the most impactful skill I developed as an intern is to take the energy mourning the “shoulds” and channel it into celebrating the silver linings.

I’ll be honest, as I began typing these words I had to take a moment to pause with my emotions as I contemplated all of the beautiful silver linings I gratefully had the opportunity to learn how to find throughout my internship.

With COVID-19, I missed out on a ton of incredible in-person experiences at sites I had been looking forward to working with for the entire internship.

But you know what I gained?

Invaluable online work-related skills (I consider myself a bit of a Zoom master after capturing the interest of high school students during a 3-hour webinar class) which is truthfully the direction our world is headed, anyway!

Exposure to the incredible workforce behind the dietetics field – I am still stunned by the amount of fantastic preceptors (some retired!) who came together amidst their own pandemic chaos to provide simulations/projects that would give us the experience we needed. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this world.

This led to the ability to intern and simultaneously have more time and space to further explore personal goals/interests from home. I’ve always wanted to learn more about Mindful Eating, and the quarantine provided an opportunity to research this subject further in my expanded free time. It is now a strong a passion of mine - I even incorporated the techniques into a virtual class I taught for a rotation!

Exposure to areas of dietetics I may not have had otherwise. I did a project that introduced me to the Standards

of Professional Performance in Sustainable, Resilient, and Healthy Food & Water Systems that I will passionately use to impact sustainability in any future dietetics position I hold!

Mastery of the art of sourdough. Ok this is a bit of a stretch, but seriously I had no clue what a starter even was before March 13th and now my life will never be the same.

Maybe your silver lining is that you learned about a work environment you don’t want to be involved in, or a skill you need to work on. Either way, a silver lining is always there - you just have to practice putting yourself in a headspace where you are able to find it! Based on my personal experience, reflective journaling will be your best friend when embarking on this process.

Friends, wherever you are on your dietetic intern journey, I sincerely wish you all the best moving forward. It has been an incredible honor to intern with the Cal Poly 2019-2020 cohort. Please don’t hesitate to contact this ol’ owl if you’re looking for more support on your future endeavors - I’m here for you!