May 22nd- Today we worked within our groups to finish our final assessment. It was great to get together and split up the final project to finalize it!


May 24th- Today our guest speaker is Karen Bakies, RD, LD. She is the Student Affairs Director with the American Dairy Association Mideast. We learned that it has been around since 1915 to be a leader in nutrition research, nutrition education, childhood nutrition and communication. They provide scientific-based nutrition info to the media, physicians, dietitians, nurses, educators, consumers and others. American Dairy Association is funded through dairy farmers. She covers the states of Ohio and West Virgina. There are 3,099 dairy farmers in Ohio. There nutrition messages want to be quality information. The communication should be accurate, science-based food and nutrition information. Overall, this was a great presentation. I learned so much about the Dairy Association!

May 17th- Today we went to Good Earth Farm. It was a non-profit organization that provides 10,000 tons a year to help people in need. It was great to see how people can contribute and donate their time to help the people in need. They were funded by many grants that they have gotten over the years. Also, Paul stated that his wife also helped the funding by teaching at Hocking College. We had a tour around the farm. He showed us and gave us information about Athens county and the way they help to contribute each year. Paul also stated that volunteers can come on Saturdays between 9-1p.m. It would be great as a class if we could contribute and go for one weekend. Overall, it was a great experience to see how Good Earth Farm works to contribute to the community.

May 15th- Today our guest speaker was Melissa Alfano. She is a RD, LD, MS. She is the coordinator director for WIC. She explained that WIC deals with women, children, and infants. It is a supplemental program that helps with women and children that are below the 185% of the U.S. poverty line. WIC is federally funded 100% within all 88 counties in Ohio. WIC improves the pregnancy outcomes, reduces infant mortality, ad provides a healthy start for the infant. It also provides nutrition education, breast feeding education, supplemental foods, and opportunities to go to the farmers market to get fresh produce. WIC also supports breast feeding instead of using formula. I loved having Melissa come into speak because it is something that I want to do with my career when I graduate!

May 8th Today we went to the OSU extension to learn about the program 4-H. Our first speaker was Brittany Pangburn. She explained what 4-H stands for which is head, health, hand, and heart. The purpose of the organization 4-H is socialization. There are three different branches within 4-H. 4-H is associated with organic growing duh as there livestock. She talked about how in 1983, "branding 4-H" for saving Americas youth. 4-H is funded through membership fees and county commissioners. They are also funded through levy's in other county's. Our second speaker was Joyce Shriner which is the Extension Educator. She talked about the history of the OSU Extension. It works mostly with adults. I found it interesting that Ohio State University was named in 1878. It is funded through the government. She said that mission of the Extension is to engage people to strengthen their lives and communities through research based educational programming. It was very interesting to see how Athens county works within the community to help the needy! May 10th I was unable to attend class due to a funeral

May 1st- Today our guest speaker was Janine Faber who is an RD working with Meijer in promoting Healthy Living. She is funded through the sponsorships that they get throughout the year. There goal for the Meijer Healthy Living is to increase sales and promote customer loyalty by creating communication health solutions and promoting knowledge to the shoppers. She explain her job in detail about how she basically travels within her district to promote and educate people about what is healthy. She does many community events and in-store events to promote Meijer Healthy Living. She also explained the program NuVal. I had heard of it but had never know exactly what is was till now. I love the idea that you can put a product into NuVal and it will show you the score of the product.  Janine presentation was very interesting. I learned many new great things that could benefit me in my career down the road!

May 3rd- Today our guest speaker was Heidi Anderson. She is a RD at WellWorks. She has been working at Ohio University for 6 years as the Education and Special Event Coordinator. She does mostly marketing and public relations for WellWorks which is in Ohio University.. She is funded through membership and the services provided through WellWorks. She talked about the new things that are happening within WellWorks which is the program called Chip. It is basically promoting a plant based diet. They also collaborate with people and agencies to try to promote it worldwide. I thought that Heidi was a great example of how there are many different things you can do with your degree as a dietitian.