Insight into the World of a Distance Intern

Last week I started working with the Chicago Park District (CPD) in the six wellness parks.  Because it was a short week with the holiday, I’m not sure of my schedule or what, exactly, I’ll be doing.  With that being said, however, I was set up with a project for a 10-week, one-hour session for teens ages 13-17 to teach them about nutrition, physical activity and anything else I can think of.  It’s great because I have the freedom to choose the curriculum, but stressful because this is the first time I’m creating a curriculum of this size from scratch.  Some issues the CPD has with these programs are marketing them to the teens so they actually attend the sessions and engaging them enough that they attend the following week.

The themes I have created are: MyPlate, portion sizing, reading nutrition labels, all of the food groups, vitamins and minerals, sports drinks and energy drinks, physical activity, recycling, Farmer’s Markets, food safety and sanitation, drugs, and alcohol.  With each of these themes I would like to have some sort of food demonstration and a physical activity.  I struggle with fun ideas for this age group because I’m predicting less enthusiasm than I would get from a younger group.  To try and engage them more, I’m planning a pre-discussion quiz that they can fill-out at the beginning of the session, then take notes while the lecture continues.  Hopefully, that will simulate more questions and input from their perspective for the discussion.  At the bottom of that page, they will set a goal related to the lesson for the following week.  The students will take the forms home to remind them of their goal and the following week we will talk about the different goals and determine if anyone met their goal.  If any one has any suggestions, feel free to send them my way at amanda.seguin@my.lr.edu.

In addition to building this curriculum, I’ll be working with a Walking Club once a week at Sherwood Park.  Generally, we walk for about 45 minutes in the area, then return to the park district to talk about nutrition and how the club is working on their goals to be more fit.  In addition, I’ll be helping with after-school programs, organizing fitness programs, and presenting food demonstrations.  Overall, I’m excited to continue working with CPD and experiencing new areas of dietetics throughout the internship.