Meghan F. Scura, RD, LDN, CLC
Licensed Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Lactation Counselor
Community Rotation
At the Downingtown Area Senior Center in Downingtown Pennsylvania, another intern (Sharon Driedger) and I completed a three season healthy cooking demonstration that was followed by a nutrition education lesson.
The cooking demonstrations included a "Healthy Apple Breakfast Muffin", "Slim Sugar Cookie" Decorating, and a "Low Sodium Snacks" (hummus with homemade tortillas chips and peanut butter/yogurt dip) demonstration.
The nutrition education lesson included: "Deciphering the New Food Label", "What's Up With Sugar?", and "Sodium".
​
​
I had the opportunity to spend many of my community hours at the Chester County WIC Program, where I have was also working part time. I was able to attend many health fairs representing the WIC Program and providing nutrition education.
​
I also met with the local Senator of Delaware and Chester counties, as well as a State Representative to discuss the Farm Bill and funding for the WIC Program.
​
​
The Chester County Food Bank (CCFB) provided me with an opportunity to teach a 6-week cooking class, called Eat Fresh Kids with
in Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
​
Each class provided the group of children (ages 6-15) the opportunity to try fresh fruits and vegetables cooked in a variety of ways, while preparing the foods themselves. Each class came with a nutrition education lesson.
​
I also assisted in distributing boxes of food and served hot lunch in a food pantry with the CCFB.
​
At ShopRite, I worked with a Registered Dietitian in West Chester, Pennsylvania for 28 hours, where I delivered a "healthy" cooking class, prepared multiple food sampling displays (including the fresh fruit skewers pictured here for Memorial Day), designed the "Stall Seat Journal" for June 2018, created the social media posts for the months of May and June 2018, created the "Around the World Nutrition" handout, and assisted many customers in choosing the most nutrient dense and cost efficient foods around the store.
​
At the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU), I had the opportunity to present two of my three nutrition presentations. Pictured here, I am performing my child presentation with the Head Start after school program, which allowed the children to use artificial foods to build the MyPlate on real plates they would find at home.
​
My second presentation included the Early Head Start program, where I presented the upcoming food label to the children's parents and discussed healthy alternatives and created a handout in English and Spanish on
​
The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania is an elite "Family Boarding School" for high school students from around the world.
​
At the Hill School, I had the opportunity to work with Susan Hurd, RD, LDN during individual nutrition consultations via the school health center and athletic department.
I also assisted in hosting a health and wellness event focused on a Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothie in the fall of 2017 and during a new coffee tasting for the cafe in May 2018.
​
At the Phillipsburg Elementary School in Phillipsburg New Jersey, I assisted the campus dietitian (Michelle Martucci, RD, LDN) in a bean nutrition education lesson with all grade levels.
The lesson included a hummus tasting. The children learned to enjoy hummus and how important it is to try new foods!
​
The Sodexo Dietetic Internships Allentown campus met with the New York, Philadelphia, and Distance campuses at the International Restaurant and Food Show in Manhattan, New York.
​
Here, we learned about the newest innovations in the foodservice world, including sushi rollers/cutters, energy-saving convection ovens, and unique ways to compost food waste on a large scale.
​
At West Chester University, I had the opportunity to teach a class alongside Patricia Davidson, DCN, RDN, CDE, LDN, FAND
using the National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Intervention curriculum from the CDC for prediabetic participants.
In each class, participants would be weighed, turn in food and exercise logs from the week, and discuss the homework from the previous week.
​
I was able to simplify portion control and lead a class-driven discussion on ways each participant could stay consistent with their individually prescribed portions.
