5/29 Class

Today we finished up our Spanish lessons. Kinda glad, not gonna lie. Our group met afterwards to discuss the progress we've made thus far, and plan out another meeting. Its coming up so quickly; I can;t believe spring quarter is nearly over already. Our handouts are 100% finished, and our needs assessment is 75% finished. We will get that completed Tuesday, then have a week to work out our powerpoint and possibly an activity for our final presentation. Maybe a snack containing local produce with Vitamin C and Iron? Always a possibility.
Thats about it.

5/27 Class

Exciting weekend; I got engaged and stuff :) Today we visited the OSU extension office and talked with Joyce Brown. The details follow...

Name: Joyce Brown
Agency: The Ohio STate University Extension Office- Athens Branch
Funding Source/ Program Type: The Ohio State University Agriculture Program and the USDA
Purpose/Mission: To gove and continue research to those who probably won't go to a university; into the entirety of the country. Saying: "You have problems? We have answers." There are four separate nutrition-related programs which are a part of the OSU Extension: Expanded Food and Nutrition Program- 185% of poverty level; Family Nutrition Program; Masters Food Preservers; Occasional Quantity Cooks. In addition, they oversee 4H
Program Plans, Monitoring, and Evaluation: Evaluation forms for each program and branch are conducted yearly, aimed at those teaching, materials, and low-literacy audiences. Also: Yearly Unified Recording System is submitted every January, which tracks economics, changes, outreach, and presentations. Also recorded: success stories from farmers etc. Planning is done at OSU and the state level. Promote through fliers, radio, TV, letters-to-the-editor, etc.
Role of the Nutrition Professional: Not much for a nutrition/ dietetics student; a Master's degree is required with some background in FCS. Community outreach educators can be employed with no college degree (HS diploma/ GED accepted).

5/22 Class

Today we learned how to speak the basics of Español. I do believe its a good idea to have a language requirement for those going into the profession is certain areas where English is not the primary language spoken, although i was kind of bored during the lecture portion of the presentation. I enjoyed the pronunciation though. I've always been able to "roll" my "r's," which some people find funny because I'm tongue-tied (thats why i never have good, quick responses). Haha.I guess thats about it for today... Have a great Memorial weekend!

5/20 Class

So I submitted my thesis proposal this morning. Crazy. Defending Tuesday, June 3. Class was cancelled today due to our speaker's illness. Our second exam was posted on Blackboard. Our group met last to to work on the needs assessment. I met with Kids on Campus last Friday to discuss with them our project; they said the absolute best thing we could do would be to put lots of pictures, colors, and big fonts on our handouts, in addition to as little writing as possible.
Thats about all I've got to write about today.

5/15 Class

We had a guest speaker yesterday; he visited from the National Dairy Council's American Dairy Association Mideast division, which is based in Columbus. The details:
Name: Mike Simienski
Agency: American Dairy Association
Funding Source/ Program Type: Affiliated with the Nat'l Dairy Council; paycheck comes from the milk farmers and Dairy Check-Off (for every 100 lbs milk sold, council receives $0.15)
Purpose/Mission: There are 4 categories of nutrition communication- health professionals, food service and retail, NFL/ corporate sports promotions, and schools and media.
Goals include to promote nutrition education and health through dairy, targeted mostly to kids and their lifestyles. Promotions include "staying healthy on the run," which focuses on healthy snacking in a busy lifestyle.
Program Plans, Monitoring, and Evaluation: Dairy Management Inc. oversees all, and is essentially a huge umbrella. Under this comes the National Dairy Council, US Dairy Export Council, and American Dairy Association; then the Drink Milk and the Got Milk campaigns.
Role of the Nutrition Professional: Four dietitians are currently on staff; Mike's background includes advertsing and so he does a lot of promotional work. Travelling to schools, etc. and portraying the healthy message associated with dairy is one of the best parts of the dietitian's job; room for research as well.

In addition to a guest speaker, we attended the Research Fair at the Convo... I can't believe I will be presenting my own research there next spring.
Some fantastic work has been done at OU. It was great seeing Ally and Emma's posters; I remember a lot about Emma's from 532 last quarter. I remember Ally's research from Celia and Crystal's presenting during 626 in the Fall. I always saw Ashley Kevesdy's poster, as well as several OU-COM and Rec and Sport Science poster's- both school's my own thesis is affiliated with.

5/13 Class

Saturday was an interesting experience. I was able to see other's points of view in regards to hunger in our region, in a manner which I had not seen before.
At the Farmer's Market, we were stationed at two seperate booths. I began my shift at the Community Food Initiative (CFI) Booth. Rhonda discussed with me the goals of her program, which included teaching kids in the community how to prepare foods in the kitchen. She was selling vegetable plants to raise money for supplies, such as cookware and ingredients. We briefly discussed the Hope Community Garden, then I took my place out in front of the tent. At first, the people I extended fliers to and discussed the program with were very receptive, donating a couple of dollars here and there and asking interested questions. As the time passed, however, people appeared to be more in a hurry and didn't even stop to take a flier. One woman responded, "Honey, I'm so poor myself that I need my own donations." I didn't quite know how to take that, so I thanked her for her time and she was one her way.
It was interesting to me that we didn't raise much money at the Farmer's Market. While I did see people who were obviously in need of financial assistance, I also saw several professors and students who probably could have at least donated their pocket change without missing it, but chose not to. It appears that people who are not native to the Southeast region may not have the understanding and compassion that those who are personally affected do. That being said, I know next time someone is raising money for the less fortunate, I'll donate my change.
It was definitly a learning experience.

5/8 Class

No lecture today; we were given the day off because Saturday we will be working on our service project Halt Hunger on the Hocking. I will be at the donations booth at the Farmer's Market from 11 am- 1pm. Actually, I'm very excited, since my mom and grandma are coming this weekend and making my sibs and I dinner; I'll pick up some local fresh produce to prepare along with our roast turkey.
My group has been developing our handouts, and will be finished with them by Tuesday.
More about the Farmers Market later...

5/6 Class

We turned in our take-home exams today. Then, the class was given time to sit and discuss the group projects. At the end of the class, we were to report to Dr. Holben as to our group's progress and discuss any difficulties or barriers we had encountered. Our group (Natalie, Andrew, Allie, Danielle, and myself) has half of the needs assessment completed, althoguh we need a little bit more research to back up the claims we have made. In addition, we have decided on the topics of the three handouts: Benefits of Gardening; Vitamin C and Iron; and Fiber in the Daily Diet. Our goal is to have these completed by next Tuesday, and finsih the quarter working on our needs assessment and preparing for the final presentation.

5/1 Class

May Day! Today our groups met to discuss our needs assessment project. Our group, garden group B, had made a list of possible hand outs and done an overview of our needs assessment community. We got to sit and discuss ideas and goals with Dr. Holben and Ashley today, so that we have a better idea of the project's main ideas. our group will be designing three handouts: one will focus on the importance of gardening and how to get one started at home; one will focus on the benefits of Vitamin C and iron (as they work together) and what vegetables will provide excellent sources of them; one will focus on the benefits of fiber. Children in the US tend to have low intakes of iron and Vitamin C, and we want to provide an easy source of the nutrients through the gardening. We will develop a way for the children grow baby greens in their large planters, and harvest them at least twice during the 6 week program. in addition, the take home planters will have alfalfa sprouts, which we will provide recipes and tips for preparing.
Fun times.... I'm glad we've been able to get going now :)