Week Three at the University of New Hampshire!

As my journey continues here at UNH, I continue to build professional relationships and experience great learning opportunities. I was given the day off Monday, to make up for my long weekend working with catering. I decided to take a nice long walk/jog and see a little more of Durham.

The view during my long walk on Monday!

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent time at the Dairy Bar on campus. The Dairy Bar is one of UNH's retail operations. It was recently rated a three star sustainable operations, which is the highest rating that can be earned. Many of the students, faculty and locals love the Dairy Bar for their fresh foods and amazing ice cream. I had the pleasure of working with Jane and Diana, the two supervisors of the Dairy Bar. I got to experience how Jane handles inventory as well as ordering ice cream. I experienced how the Dairy Bar operates, helping and serving customers. I was glad I got to meet Jane and Diana, seeing as I will be spending more time working with them for this internship. They and all the student workers are so nice and really run a great operation.

On Thursday, I spent the morning with UNH's on site dietitian, Rochelle L'Italien M.S., R.D., L.D. She began to show me her role on campus and typical cases she deals with during the summer. Rochelle is an amazing woman, who I have really started to bond with. She is a great connection to the Dietetics world for me, and I am so grateful I get to spend time with her. She explained the new Menu's of Change initiative that UNH dining has joined in pursuit of sustaining a Healthy UNH. She also explained her role in a wonderful program here called Guiding Stars. It is a nutritional program that rates food according to the nutritional value which is based off of the FDA and USDA recommendations. It is a great way to help students understand and visually see which foods can provide them better nutrients and overall end up being a healthier choice.

A summary of the Menus of Change initiative here at UNH!

After spending some time with Rochelle, I then was able to join Richard, Dahlia, and Amy Toussaint (of Marketing) to tour the newly acquired Pita Pit Trailer. Pita Pit is a franchise that sells meat and vegetarian pitas. The Philbrook Cafe, another retail location on campus, houses a Pita Pit which is popular with the students. This summer, the retail operations brought on a Pita Pit trailer, that will be a mobilized version of the oh so popular Philbrook Cafe Pita Pit. Richard as well as all the retail workers, are very excited about this new opportunity. We spent some time touring the new trailer and taking pictures for marketing. The goal is to really sell the trailer to students/customers including over social media.
We all had lunch together at the Dairy Bar, and I spent the afternoon working on updating recipes for the Dairy Bar in Foodpro.

On Friday, I spent the whole day with Rochelle. We attended one of the several Resource Fairs, that UNH hosts for orientations over the summer. I was able to experience Jon Plodzik, director of dining hall operations, introduce UNH dining to incoming freshman parents. They also played an awesome video that captures dining and retail at UNH perfectly. After the parent's orientation, we attended the resource fair where I was able to experience Rochelle help orient incoming freshman and their parents with nutritional concerns. There were several students who were concerned about having allergy or nutritional needs, and Rochelle was able to help them know and understand their many options. Here at UNH, there are many options for Allergen friendly food, as well as gluten-free zones in all of the dining hall locations. UNH dining does their very best at accommodating students with food allergies and Rochelle plays a large part in that.

The dining video shown for parents at orientation!

UNH Dining prepared delicious finger food for students and parents attending the resource fair. Things like small pastries, yogurt parfaits, and even chocolate covered strawberries! It was a great way to introduce dining and interact with incoming freshman.

The resource fair!

Two quick shots of the UNH Dining and Retail table at the resource fair!

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on recipes for the Dairy Bar and learning how to create new recipes in Foodpro.

Build sheets for the Dairy Bar highlighting how to prepare each menu item. This was in conjunction with me created new recipes for the Dairy Bar in Foodpro.

On the weekend my mother and a friend came to visit. I took them to Dover for breakfast, then Portsmouth, and in the evening we visited other friends for dinner in Epping!