Frederick Green Memorial Internship in Nutrition Communications

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation

This award provides a grant for a nutrition and dietetics student who has secured an unpaid, full-time, 6- to 8-week summer internship with a registered dietitian who is a member of the Academy specializing in nutrition communications, specifically related to media and public relations. The practitioner should be one who can use assistance and provide the student with meaningful experiences related to media and nutrition communications. This must not be a position that the RD could or would normally be able to pay a student or RD to do.

• Award amount: $2,000
• The deadline has been extended until April 1.
• For more information, contact Beth Labrador on the Foundation staff at BLabrador@eatright.org
• Application may be downloaded here.

This grant was conceived and is funded by Neva Cochran, MS, RD, LD.  

Here, she tells us how this grant came about:

My uncle Frederick Green died in June 2009 at the age of 90.  Besides the time he was a student at Texas A&M University and served in the Army Air Corps in England during World War II, he lived and worked in Coryell and McLennan Counties in Central Texas. He was a farmer and rancher, including a cattle rancher, for 60 years on land that was originally purchased by my great-great grandfather when he settled in Texas in the 1800’s. He was married for 56 years to Kathryn Cook who predeceased him in 2004 and they had no children. As one of the beneficiaries of his estate, I wanted to honor his memory and help others in some way.

Kathryn and Frederick Green

Neva Cochran and her uncle Frederick Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My uncle’s bequest along with two other events in June 2009 gave me the idea to do create a grant for a student who obtains a full-time, unpaid internship with a registered dietitian and member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics working in nutrition communications, media and public relations. First, Heather Golubski, a Kansas State dietetics graduate wrote asking to work with me for the summer before her internship began and I agreed to take her on. The same summer, our niece, a Notre Dame University student, landed a full-time, non-paying internship with a non-profit agency in Dallas but was paid through a grant she received from Notre Dame that compensated students who had secured an unpaid summer internship. Thus, the idea was born!

Luke 12:34 reads “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I have been truly blessed with a wonderful career in nutrition media, which would not have been possible without the foresight of Academy (formerly ADA) leaders in the early 1980’s in creating the ADA Spokesperson Program with the vision of Sue Finn and financial support of Ross Labs (now Abbott Nutrition). The presence of RDs and ADA in the media has been significantly elevated over the past 31 years through this program.  I was fortunate to have been an ADA Spokesperson for 7 years and the training I received and skills I developed are the basis for the nutrition communications practice I have today. As a preceptor for dietetic interns in two Dallas programs, I know the great need for more opportunities for students and interns in this area.  I hope this grant will not only provide one opportunity but also inspire others to create more.  In conclusion, I share the words of Margaret Bogle, a past ADAF Chair, who said, “If you’re givin’ while you’re livin’, you’re a knowin’ where it’s goin.”

Love it, Neva!  A warm thank you and a standing ovation for Neva and her generous gift in honor of her uncle, Frederick Green.

To learn more about Neva and her nutrition communications work, read my interview with her here!