After the Pomp and Circumstance

Before all the details slip my mind, I need to write about my graduation from Bastyr University this past Monday. It was a true celebration, far more grandiose and joyful than I expected. Just trying on my gown the night before felt momentous, even if it did make me look like a linebacker.

The time spent rehearsing, eating a quick lunch provided by Bastyr, and getting lined up for the procession was our last chance to bond before going our separate ways. After all, we had spent the last two years in the same classes every quarter – these faces have become a part of my life. I felt buoyed by the collective excitement, proud of our accomplishments, and ready to move on.


My mother had flown in from California, and my brother and his family came from Arizona to witness the ceremony. As I filed into Benaroya Hall with the rest of the graduating students I had no hope of finding them in the audience because nearly every seat was full, and the noise from the cheering and clapping was so tremendous that it would surely drown out any sound they made. Nonetheless, I was not five steps down the aisle when I heard someone yell my name and, looking to my right, saw my family shouting and waving at me, my husband holding the camera up high above his head in an attempt to videotape the procession.


I felt like a star. In retrospect, that sounds a little ridiculous, but at the time it felt great. And of course I wasn’t the only star that afternoon – we were a constellation of stars! (I can’t help being maudlin…) This was nothing like my first college graduation, twenty years ago now. I can barely remember that graduation. This one I will likely never forget. This one I really worked hard for, and this one felt like the end of a journey, not just a transition.

Later, my husband stood at the edge of the stage to capture the moment that my name was called and I crossed the stage to accept my diploma. My sister-in-law whooped loudly enough to scandalize her two boys, and Dr. Kestin, who was presenting me with my master’s hood, said, “Sounds like you’ve got a fan!” I don’t if that’s how I would put it, but I was definitely feeling the love!

When all the Master’s grads had made it onto the stage, Dr. Church officially conferred us with our degrees and reminded us to “master” ourselves, rather than others.


Five days later, I’m still feeling a little choked up and am suddenly aware of the friends who have already moved away for their dietetic internships in far-flung states. Luckily, several friends remain here in the Seattle area, some who will be interns at Bastyr with me. This next year is the proving ground for us in our chosen field of dietetics, and I’m very excited and a little fearful, but mostly looking forward to this next challenge.

And now begins the rest of our lives. Congratulations everyone!

Getting An Early Start

It’s only June, and I haven’t even graduated yet, but I’m already beginning my internship!

The Bastyr interns have been offered the opportunity to complete 32 hours of a diabetes rotation by working at a summer camp on Vashon Island for 4 days. This camp will be slightly unusual as these summer camps go because it will be a mix of “normal” kids (what kid is normal, anyway?), kids with T1DM and kids with celiac disease. Out of about 300 children, only 70 will be diabetic. This will also be the first year that the camp integrates gluten-intolerant kids (they’re expecting about 30). Since 5-10% of T1DM kids have celiac disease, there will be some overlap between the two groups.

Today I attended an orientation of sorts. The orientation took place at the GIG conference in Seattle and our small meeting was led by Cynthia Kupper, RD and executive director of GIG, the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America, and Jennifer Okemah, the lead RD and diabetes expert for the camp. Cynthia is a dynamic personality (so is Jennifer) and has been instrumental in new legislation and policy-making related to gluten-intolerance. She is the person to watch in all things gluten-free, especially in terms of gluten-free certification for food producers.

We talked briefly about the structure of the camp and how the GIG contingent and the diabetes contingent will interface. The main goal will be to monitor the children with celiac and diabetes while keeping out of their way as much as possible as they do kid-at-summer-camp things. I’ll get to practice doing finger sticks and reading blood sugar levels and, of course, counting carbs.

I’m really looking forward to this! I'll post more about the camp as it happens.

In a Mediterranean Mood

Tonight my soon-to-be-graduating class of Masters of Nutrition Science students put on a shindig for, get this, the preceptors for this year’s outgoing dietetic interns. It was a thank you dinner for the preceptors, put on by the interns, but the meal was planned and executed start-to-finish by my class as a project for Food Service Management.

It was gorgeous. I wish I had pictures of the venue and the food – I’ll try to get a hold of some from our FSM instructor. The theme was “Savoring the Mediterranean,” and in order to avoid having to make special meals for those with food intolerances we planned a gluten-free, dairy-free menu.

Let me just recount it for you here so that you can salivate over it:

Apps: Roasted red pepper and walnut pesto, hummus with preserved lemon, and olive tapenade, served with homemade sourdough bread and chickpea-rosemary GF crackers
Salad: Mixed greens with fig-shallot vinaigrette and edible flowers
Dinner: Quinoa cakes with basil and sun-dried tomatoes, served over braised greens and cannellini beans, all topped with sautéed oyster mushrooms
Dessert: Almond cream tartlet topped with fresh strawberries

If I’ve left anything off the list, I’ll certainly hear about it from my classmates.

We had a pretty great leadership team. They were bossy and got the job done! Theresa, who completed culinary school before she came to Bastyr and is a masterful vegetarian cook, was running the kitchen and the cooking crew, and Laine was in the “front of the house,” making the most of her natural leadership ability and vast experience working in restaurants.

Exuberant Wendy was in charge of us all, acting as mother hen and cheerleader. She also kept in touch with the interns and the internship director to make sure everything went smoothly. And Cheryl and her donations team raised $2000 in cash and in-kind donations to put the cherries on top of this dining experience.

And finally, let me put in a few good words for the grunts: the prep cooks, line cooks, fry cooks, pastry chefs, waitstaff, bartenders, and the decoration team. Oh, and the dishwashers! We did a great job!

The glitches were few, like when we ran out of beans-and-greens and had to whip up another batch, or when some of our tartlets collapsed into puddles of almondy deliciousness. No matter… the dinner guests knew nothing of our setbacks and had a fantastic time.

So congratulations to everyone for a job well done. If our exit exam was based on our performance tonight we would all graduate with honors!