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Strengths/Skills
Determination
Enthusiasm
Candidate Bio
Contributions and Leadership Achievements
Organization | Position | Term | Contribution |
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics School Nutrition Services Dietary Practice Group | Education Committee Co-Chair | 2021-2022, 2023-2024 | I am in my second year as Co-Chair of the Education Committee with the SNS DPG. During my time, I have worked alongside Sarah Combs and our committee members to curate educational webinars relating to school nutrition topics as well as FNCE Spotlight proposals. Part of these duties include conducting needs assessments to determine what education opportunities would best fit our members, annually. We work with members of the Academy and the SNS DPG to ensure that webinars are approved for CEUs, and recordings are available via the website for review at a later date. |
Various | Food Service Management Dietetic Intern Preceptor | 2016- Present | In my time as a Registered Dietitian, I have served as a preceptor to over 20 dietetic interns from Georgia State University, the University of Georgia, and others to provide them with their required rotation hours for Food Service Management. Interns who have worked with me consistently return to their schools expressing their enjoyment working alongside me and the knowledge they were able to obtain in the school nutrition environment, to the point where there are students in these schools actively seeking to do their FSM rotations with me as their preceptor. |
Employment
Employer | Title | Years | Location |
Jackson County School System | School Nutrition Director | 0.75 | Jefferson, Georgia |
Forsyth County Schools | School Nutrition Assistant Director | 0.75 | Cumming, Georgia |
Gwinnett County Public Schools | Coordinator of Nutrition Support | 6 | Suwanee, Georgia |
Practice Areas
Years in Practice Area:
Approximate number of years as a member of this DPG/MIG": 5
Honors and Awards
Organization | Award | Year | Contribution |
Food Management Magazine | Chef to Watch | 2021 | Being named a Chef to Watch in July 2021, for my contributions during the pandemic, I believe is a true testament to my talent, ingenuity, and dedication to school nutrition. Navigating the challenges of feeding students while maintaining the integrity of the menu during such a difficult time was an immense task, and it was an honor to see my efforts recognized in such a prestigious way. |
Georgia Department of Education | 2020 Vision for School Nutrition Award | 2021 | The Georgia Department of Education and Department of Agriculture created a vision that by 2020, school nutrition meals would be composed of at least 20% Georgia Grown foods. The menus that I curated during this time frame, focusing on both local and Georgia Grown foods allowed for this recognition. |
Georgia Department of Education | Golden Radish Award | 2018 & 2019 | In my position during this time, I was responsible for focusing on Farm to School initiatives. These initiatives and collaboration between the school nutrition program and the local schools, resulted in my district being recognized as a Golden Radish school district for our above-and-beyond work to use locally grown produce, school gardens, and nutrition education. |
School Nutrition Association | ANC Best Practice Award- Farm to School | 2017 | My presentation, "Farm to School is NEAT", was the recipient of the Best Practice Award in Farm to School. NEAT stood for "Nutrition Education and Training", which was a district-wide effort to provide education and training for staff and students in the areas of nutrition. My focus on farm-to-school in this program was to use our kitchens as teaching kitchens, developing recipes with our district chef to highlight Harvest of the Month products, including house-made pickles from cucumbers and Harvest Pumpkin Bars from whole pumpkins. Our kitchens would roast pumpkins, purée them, and create whole-grain rich pumpkin bars that we featured on our menus for many years to come as part of our holiday meal services. |