FDACS Internship Program

The dietetic internship program I was selected into was from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness (FDACS, FNW). This internship is located in Tallahassee, Florida. This internship program is nine months long and accepts only two interns per year. This program is concentrated on the Unites States Department of Agriculture Child Nutrition Programs and school food service management. Completion of the internship gives eligibility to take the Commission on Dietetic Registration's Registration Examination for Dietitians.

The mission of the Dietetic Internship Program is to provide quality supervised practice and didactic training, with a focus in School Food Service Management. Students will develop the expertise and skills necessary to apply the nutrition knowledge and theory of their didactic education to the work environment.


There are many rotations that I will go through. Each rotation will have it's own blog entry. The rotations I will be going through are:

Clinic Rotation - Fourteen Weeks
Pediatric Pulmonary Center, Gainesville, Florida - 2 weeks
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare - Diabetes Center - 1 week
DaVita Healthcare, Tallahassee/surrounding area – 2 weeks
Riverchase Care Center, Quincy, Florida – 1 week


Food Service Rotation - Eight Weeks 
Sarasota County School Board – Osprey, Florida and surrounding area - 4 weeks
School District of Manatee County – Bradenton, Florida – 2 weeks
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare r – 2 weeks


Community Rotation - Sixteen Weeks
Leon County Health Department - WIC, Tallahassee, Florida
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – Food, Nutrition and Wellness and Office of Healthy Schools, Tallahassee, Florida
Florida Department of Health – Child Care Food Program, Tallahassee, Florida
University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Wakulla, Florida
Florida Department of Elder Affairs, Tallahassee, Florida


For more information check out: http://www.freshforfloridakids.com/Sponsors/Programs/DieteticInternshipProgram.aspx

I am officially an intern. We received our schedule. The other intern and myself are together for many rotations which will be VERY helpful. I start clinical in just over a month, and we start our rotation at WIC next week. Jan-Feb we'll be traveling to Sarasota school district and we'll be there for a month! We were given many projects and assignments. After we talked about our internship schedule we got our background checks done- thank goodness our director drove us there! I would have never found the place!

The Food, Nutrition, and Wellness (FNW) department is really making the right steps towards a healthier schools. They are implementing the food menu changes while undergoing a department change (entire department changed in Jan 2012 from Department of Education to  Department of Agriculture). They are working on grants, funding for schools, working with USDA on many projects, they have an awesome Nutrition Ed program-- all being led by a great team leader- Robin. She's actually an attorney to help with the move from Education to Agriculture and also into the government to help make changes for nutrition. She's really a go-getter!

I'm excited to be in this internship!