Graduate students in the dietetic internship program at IU Indianapolis are getting career-ready in a place that’s familiar to them—grades K-12. For these future dietitians, going back to school means gaining valuable firsthand experience in managing food systems for Indiana schoolchildren.
“There’s a vital role to play in feeding kids that can be really powerful for our students; they feel valued because they know they’re contributing in a really meaningful way,” said JoAnne Whelan, Ph.D., RDN, LD, director of the IU Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics and the Dietetic Internship Program. “That’s just one of the reasons the school rotation tends to be a favorite with our students.”
Dietetic intern Emma Sommers completed her school food service rotation this fall at Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools in Fishers. Serving more than 21,600 students in pre-K through 12th grade in 23 schools, HSE Schools is one of eight central Indiana school districts that partners with the IU Nutrition and Dietetics Program to offer the 64-hour School Food Service and Nutrition Education rotation.
“On my first day I attended a meeting where all of the school cafeteria managers had to create a meal for their school that met all of the USDA guidelines,” said Sommers, a student in the Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics + Dietetic Internship (MS+DI) program. “They brought kids, the superintendent and people on the school board in to taste and vote, and I got to help choose the winner.”
Sommers was excited to complete part of her dietetic internship with HSE Schools. In October 2024, the district was featured in the local news media for school food service innovations such as adding global cuisine to the menus and featuring seasonal produce through a “Harvest of the Month” series. For Sommers, who completed her undergraduate degree at Purdue University, HSE’s creativity in food service inspired her to develop a presentation for kindergarteners about figs, one of the Harvest of the Month selections.
“I used the senses as the theme to ask the kids about the shape and color and worked with the cafeteria manager to provide some tasting samples—I also found a YouTube video of a fig singing and dancing,” said Sommers, who completed the presentation as a requirement of the rotation. “I received a lot of positive feedback from the teachers who were there and the principal, who mentioned the benefit of introducing nutrition education early in the school years.”
The MS+DI includes 1,016 hours of supervised practice at hospitals, clinics and community organizations. To sit for the registered dietitian exam, candidates must have a master’s degree and complete at least 1,000 supervised practice hours. Concurrent with the experiential learning, IU nutrition and dietetic students attend didactic courses to help reinforce key concepts from their clinical experiences. IU has offered a nutrition and dietetic internship for more than 100 years.
“I’m always impressed with the students’ creativity in taking the science of nutrition and conveying it in ways that make people want to learn about it,” said Whelan, who graduated from IU’s nutrition and dietetics program. “I’m constantly in awe of their abilities.”