Health Behavior & Nutrition Sciences

Director of Performance Nutrition, RD, LDN 

B.S. in Dietetics, Class of 2018

Master’s student in Exercise Science

“I first started playing soccer and baseball, and I found a big love for football. The biggest thing with football was I was very injury prone. In high school, I got a concussion, a high ankle sprain, I tore my ACL. I was just torn to bits. When I tore my ACL, I never fully recovered from it, at least for those few years afterwards. It was a really hard process, so finding nutrition, realizing like that's one of the key elements in getting back, that's one of my motivations for why I love this job. I could have set myself up so much better health- and recovery-wise, but I didn't know how to do it.

I got into the Associate in Arts program, so when you're a sophomore, you graduate with an Associate in Arts degree, move onto main campus and select your major. My mom's a nurse. My grandmother is a nurse. My dad was a state trooper for a long time and then he ended up becoming a trooper paramedic that flew in a helicopter. I thought I wanted to go into strength training or athletic training. I liked the preventative side of things. I was looking through the major catalog with my mom and she pointed at Nutrition and Dietetics. I said, ‘Oh, that's really cool.’ I had no idea that was a major.

I had just graduated in 2018 and they were in the process of hiring the new dietitian, Kelly Rossi (Director of Performance Nutrition), but there was about a three-month gap where there was nobody. I was still volunteering [with Performance Nutrition] and it worked out that I was able to start being paid as a student manager. I was the first paid position as a student here and now I’m the Director of Performance Nutrition.

When we were in the CAA, we were the only school with two full-time dietitians and a part-time. There were a lot of schools in our conference that didn’t even have a full-time dietitian, so it is really rare to see. Every fall and spring, we normally have around 20 to 30 student volunteers and five student managers. I really enjoy seeing the students’ passion and their enthusiasm because I was where they were and all I was thinking about was, ‘I just want to be a sports dietitian.’ I really enjoy working with them and showing them the things I wish I was taught in undergrad or things I just didn't know about yet.

In this job, I do something different every day: Team talks, manual labor, going to practices. One of my main teams is football, so I will go to the games with them, either home or away. Essentially, it's Monday to Saturday, and all hours of the day.

A lot of these athletes just want to be the best they can and this is one resource they've never had their whole life, so it's really fun to teach them things they've never learned. When they're around their team, you get to interact with them a little bit, but you really learn a lot about someone in a one-on-one counseling session. That's when you build a really close rapport with an athlete and I think I really enjoy that the most.”