I finished my Dietetic Internship -- 11 months of free labor at the best hospitals, non-profits, and corporate agencies in New York City -- done!
The last place I interned, a PR agency, hired me back 5 days later as a freelance consultant. How fantastic is that?
So, we had our graduation on Thursday. I played all day Thursday and Friday, and Monday I go to work!
At the request of our Program Coordinator, I said a few words at our graduation, which, somehow, felt more special than my Master's degree graduation just this past May. Anyway, though I made some impromptu additions during the delivery, here is the bulk of my short speech:
I want to thank my fiance, Fred, who has been very patient and supportive this past year.
I've been asked to talk a moment about my take on being an intern.
So...
There's two great things about being an intern. First, the overwhelming highlight of the process is right now -- that we've made it through!
I'm not sure it's truly sunk in for any of us yet, and moments for reflection may not happen for awhile (if we find time for the reflection at all). Especially since, as recently as 48 hours ago, we were still giving PowerPoint presentations, and possibly still writing our papers for Pam.
But we really made it. 11 months. of unpaid. labor. And... here we are. We've got a moment, let's squeeze in some reflection.
What have we learned over the past year?
Some lessons were learned the hard way, like: always be friendly and professional no matter how unfriendly and unprofessionally someone may treat you.
Along the way, we learned we had to make the most of our experience. If
there's not much to do, make something to do. Preferably, something helpful. There's
always a lot to do.
We were very lucky to be in a well-rounded program, one that exposed us to more than hospital halls and lab coats, though we certainly did that too -- some of us even commuted for hours to get to our sites.
Because there is so much more to our field. And our being in New York (or
Connecticut, you know who you are), meant that just about every option imaginble was available to us.
We interned at prominent non-profit organizations; we interned at for-profit health centers. Notably, somehow, we also made it through food service without any deep knife wounds. Well, most of us did.
Recently, after spending the better part of the year exploring those internship sites that Christina worked so hard to put together, so that all we had to do was pick as if from an a la carte menu -- thank you -- We were given the daunting task to seek out our final site on our own -- excellent practice for what comes next.
Susan worked in outpatient pediatric diabetes -- Sarah explored corporate wellness -- Solai wanted to explore counseling -- Rebecca split her time between a Diabetic Youth Camp and being Girl-Friday for Chef Kyle -- Roni worked with eating disorders -- Dana also worked with Chef Kyle, and another culinary nutritionist -- and I explored public relations for food and health.
How wonderful is it, right in this group, to see so many applications in our field?! We were left inspired, informed, and astonished by our options.
We all know, most things are what you make them... you can make your career whatever
you want it to be, this presents a freedom that is exciting and scary.
For instance, I learned to take on projects even when -- and perhaps especially when -- they take you out of your comfort zone. Instances like, say, being asked to speak at graduation.
And then there was perhaps the best lesson of all, something that I think I heard from Isobel my first year, but only now truly appreciate -- wherever you go in your career, make sure you have a large enough bag.
Aside from all these lessons,
I mentioned that there are TWO great things about being an intern.
The first, as I said, is finishing - but the other is even better.
Despite how accomplished each one of us was before entering this
program, being an intern is intrinsically humbling.
Yes, humbling. No matter how high we climb from these internships (and
very often there's only up to go!) we can now all say that we knew each
other when. As we progress in our lives and in our careers, the value of this
bond only grows.
I'm in awe of how much more there is still to learn, and do; the freedom presented is exciting and scary - and I am thrilled that we are all finally on our way to what comes next.
