FOOD SERVICE WORK EXPERIENCE = 25 - 50 project hours per each employment experience or position : Need 70 Total hrs Objectives:

Learn the responsibilities of a food service employee. Experience the atmosphere of a food service operation. Learn the processes involved in transforming a received inventory item into a served product. Gain insight into customer contact and problem solving. Tasks: Obtain a position in one of the following areas o Food pre-prep (veg prep, ingredient room, storeroom, meat dept, produce dept., etc) o Food preparation (cook, cooks helper, food assembly, etc) o Bakery o Cashier (25 hours max) o Service of food (wait staff, bar tender, cafeteria line service) (35 hours max) Orient yourself with the policies and procedures of the position. Follow required schedule and job outline. Complete any assigned tasks. Documentation: Cafeteria Line Service at Mercy Regional Health Center Hours credited to the project: 35hrs Actual hours worked or volunteered: +70hrs List one important fact learned from the experience: Correct serving temperatures of different foods. List one skill acquired from the experience: Temperature recording, proper food serving, appropriate serving hygiene (hair net, gloves, hand washing, etc.). Briefly state why this experience mattered to your professional development. o This position teaches you how to identify the quality of the food you are serving. Teaching you basic habits, such as routinely checking food temperatures to ensure you are serving food safely. It was also a great way to observe individuals meal choices and learn proper portions of different foods. For instance, when serving a brisket on the line, I would have to slice it and weigh it before serving it to the customer. In the process I was able to relate weights of meats with the visual size. Documentation: Cashier at Mercy Regional Health Center Hours credited to the project: 25hrs Actual hours worked or volunteered: +70hrs List one important fact learned from the experience: Customer service is extremely important in all areas of food production. List one skill acquired from the experience: Counting back change, making sure everything is stocked, well organized, and clean for all patrons. Briefly state why this experience mattered to your professional development o If working as the managerial RD of a kitchen, it is important to know all positions, in case you are short handed and need to step in and assist with the daily productions of the kitchen. I think the best part of working as the cashier is getting to know the other employees of the hospital. You tend to see the same faces each day in the cafeteria, and it was a convenient way to strike up conversation and become familiar with fellow coworkers.

Documentation: Food Prep at AJs New York Pizzeria Hours credited to the project:20hrs Actual hours worked or volunteered: +50hrs List one important fact learned from the experience: Foods held on the food prep line have a shorter shelf life than those kept in cold storage. I also learned that planning ahead is key for a smooth food prep operation. If you run out of Italian sausage in the middle of your shift and never took time to prep a back up supply in the fridge, you will not be able to cut the frozen meat in time for the customers order. Preparation for the following day of business is imperative to the success of the whole operation! List one skill acquired from the experience: multi tasking in an efficient manner. Learning to clean up your mess as you go so that you do not have to take the time and go back in between each order to clean up from the previous pizza order. Briefly state why this experience mattered to your professional development: I learned the value of working with the people around you, if you did not have good communication on the prep line, everyone would run into each other and the whole operation would run ineffectively. I also learned about the quality of foods that sit out on a food prep line. I think that is one of the best experiences for a person to have if they plan to one day manage a food service department. I learned about the ways to red flag a food that might have prematurely reached its expiration date by noticing little details, such as color, texture, smell, even taste. STUDENT EXTRA-CURRICULAR EXPERIENCE PROJECTS Required hours for medical nutrition and community nutrition =

60

DIETARY ASSISTANT OR DIET OFFICE WORK AT MEDICAL CENTER OR HOSPITAL = 40 Project Hours Objectives: Recognize modified diet requirements Interact with patients and health care staff Facilitate the efficient functioning of a tray line Tasks:

Interact with nursing staff regarding patient meals/snacks/supplements Check patient menus against diet modifications for accuracy Prepare and deliver snacks to patients Check trays on tray line for accuracy

Documentation: Hostess/Nutrition Services at Shawnee Mission Medical Center Hours credited to the project: 40hrs Actual hours worked or volunteered: +75hrs List three facts learned from the experience: 1. If a patient is taking Coumadin (Warfarin) or a number of other blood thinners, their dietary orders will show that they are allergic to cranberry, this is because cranberry has been found to have adverse affects when consumed while using anticoagulants. 2. Patients order their meals through a system called skylight. The computer system is pretty useful to patients and medical personnel alike, only allowing patients to see

meal options that their diets will actually allow. The only hiccup with the system is that it does not count carbohydrates for ADA, Carb Control, or Calorie patients. If the patient reaches a its max Carbohydrate count (4 CHO, or 60 g Carbs), the computer will automatically sub out some of their meal choices, which is not always in a sensible manner. To help these patients receive a well rounded meal, and also to help them understand the basics of Carb counting, one of my roles was to assist patients in ordering. Not only was it helpful for patients, it also was very helpful to my learning process of exchange lists and carb counting as well. 3. Patients on neutropenic diets can not have fresh fruits or vegetables, but if the fruits are from a can, it is allowed. I was unaware that they flash cook fruits before canning them. I would imagine this is also true with vegetables, I just happened to learn this first hand when a patient explained to me why she could order peaches even though she was on a neutropenic diet. Briefly state why this experience mattered to your professional development. I feel that this has been the most beneficial experience for my professional development yet. Not only was I able to learn actual facts about different diets, but being able to to get valuable experience interacting with patients, that really made this job worth it. Everyone is expected to learn the material, and be able to put that knowledge into practice upon completion of the degree, but it takes more than that to really be successful in the clinical area of dietetics, and I think that one of the best ways to prepare for my professional career is to have that extra experience with patient interaction, learning hospital etiquette and proper bedside manner. I really have enjoyed my time in this position, and I hope that I can continue to learn from this job! INTERVEIW AN RD IN PRACTICE PROJECT = 1 HOURS PER INTERVEIW Objectives: Investigate the variety of employment opportunities available to RDs. Recognize position responsibilities for RDs. Task: Interview a practicing RD clinical, media, marketing, product sales, private practice, etc. Documentation: Interviewed Natalie Plank, RD Hours credited to the project:1hr Actual hours worked or volunteered: 1hr List three facts learned from the experience: 1. Natalie works on both sides of dietetics, as the clinical RD as well as the managerial RD 2. In working with an older clientele, she is more concerned with basic health maintenance, as opposed to improvement of health or weight loss/gain. 3. The staff must keep detailed records of patients food intake and medications, as many of the residents do not have the ability to remember for themselves. There is a lot more paper work and charting involved than I would have expected. Briefly state why this experience mattered to your professional development. I have not had much experience with assisted living/ retirement home settings. It was interesting to learn about Natalies main duties as senior dietitian of nutrition services. She is the clinical dietitian for the sites she is assigned to, but also the Managerial RD for the kitchens at each site. The area of dietetics that Natalie works in is not familiar to me, so the whole interview was very educational for me.

Volunteer Experience- 15hrs Dietetic volunteer for the Shawnee Mission School District Food Service Worked under the direction of the SMSD Dietitian and the SMSD Nutritionist Assisted the SMSD Nutritionist with updating the school district Recipe Book and food catalog with all of the new products for the school year as the food service was transitioning to the new nutrition standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. This entailed searching for Child Nutrition Labels and cataloging nutrition information and ingredients for all new products offered by the school district.