“TDAF
was instrumental in helping me become a registered dietitian. I earned
a B.S. in 1998 from Texas Woman’s University, participated in
their dietetic internship, and earned an M.S. from TWU in
2001.
Dietetics
is a second career for me. Prior to earning a college degree,
I worked
as an administrative assistant for the CEO of a
Fortune 500 company. I started college in the evenings
part-time at Texas Woman’s University with the goal of earning a business
degree. A friend of mine suggested that since I liked to cook so
much, that I talk to an advisor in the Nutrition and Food Sciences
department at TWU. I met with Dr. Nancy DiMarco. Her recommendation
was that if I became a registered dietitian, many doors in the food/nutrition
arena would be open to me. So, I followed her advice. After completing
as many courses as I could at night, it soon became apparent that
I must quit my “day job” in order to take the science
and core classes for the Dietetics and Institutional Administration
degree. As a single parent with daycare expenses and a
mortgage, making a leap of this magnitude was intimidating.
However, school
loans, a part-time job working from my home, the free food
given me for participating in the food sensory lab in the
Nutrition department,
and the financial assistance of the Celeste Rocap Endowed
Scholarship and the North Texas Dietetic Association Academic
Scholarship enabled
me to realize my goal of becoming a registered dietitian.
Currently,
I am the Director of Diabetes Education/Clinical Nutrition at
North
Texas Medical Center in Gainesville. I became interested
in diabetes management while working as a clinical dietitian.
I’ve
since become certified as a diabetes educator. Teaching people how
to have fun with food, make it healthy and fit into a healthy lifestyle
is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. And I
get to do it daily, thanks to TDAF.”
