Since high school, I have enjoyed an active lifestyle through playing sports such as long-distance

running and tennis. With a fixed schedule for exercising every day, regularly playing sports allowed me to

fully understand sports function and social value while promoting my physical and mental health.

Participating in various sports activities, feeling the benefits, pleasure, and fun in practice, and

strengthening and consolidating the motivation to participate in sports activities motivated me to seek

better performance. This was when I started to pay attention to the foods I ate every day. My mother is a

public health specialist with knowledge of health management. With her help to configure nutritious

fitness meals and giving me dietary guidance, I learned about the balance of diet and the role of various

nutrients. Later, I formed the habit of regular fitness and a balanced diet that I maintain to this day.

However, I overlooked the integral role this part of my life would play in my future studies.

Initially, I heeded my parents’ advice and selected Finance as my undergraduate major at the

University of Delaware. Then, during my freshman year, I was introduced to a senior student majoring in

nutrition at a social event. We had a friendly and inspiring conversation that piqued my interest in

investigating how nutrition as a science subject studies the interaction between food and the body, and the

distribution, transportation, digestion, and metabolism of nutrients. After meeting, she introduced me to

her academic advisor. Through an informative and detailed discussion, I took a small but essential step in

my studies to take a nutrition course before changing programs.

Sitting in the freshman class Introduction to Nutrition, I found the echo of my high school life.

Additionally, I enjoyed the interdisciplinary approach to the subject through food science, physical

therapy, and health management to bring wellness to the general public. My diligent efforts and excellent

performance resulted in an A while being one of the few non-science background students. Here the

dynamic and fascinating contents in the course helped make me determined to change my major to

Nutrition and Dietetics & Nutrition and Medical Science as my double-major at the end of the first year.

The past four years of detailed training at the University of Delaware have equipped me with a

concrete foundation of theoretical knowledge and a variety of practical skills. For example, the core

courses, Management of Food and Nutrition Services, provided me with the methods for making diet plans

to manage medical conditions or achieve specific health goals. Meanwhile, Medical Nutrition Therapy and

Community Nutrition exposed me to diet’s role in treating diseases. Later, I realized that expertise in
biology is an indispensable condition for further advancement in the field of nutrition, so I minored in

Biological Science.

Throughout my undergraduate education, I had multiple opportunities for collaborative studies

with my peers. The group projects granted me the possibility to practice the knowledge obtained from the

classroom, such as investigating food components in a lab setting to provide evidence and research-based

suggestions upon the nutrition menu for the school’s dining hall. Another project allowed me to engage in

a nutrition counseling session held by the department where I conducted a nutritional analysis on a patient

who sought to obtain information on improving health and achieving specific goals. Finally, with the

continuation of understanding the internal physiological structure of the body and the process of the body's

physiological operations, I broadened my knowledge by taking all DPD professional courses.

Meanwhile, I actively engaged in extracurricular activities and obtained clinical nutrition

experience from real-world settings. Specifically, I intended to learn the science of studying the human

body’s nutritional requirements and nutritional infusion pathways under various pathological conditions.

Thus, I conducted an RD internship in the ICU and other critical units in San Francis Hospital at

Wilmington for a year. In the beginning, I shadowed a dietitian and learned dietetic education for bariatric

patients’ surgery. To quickly adapt to the fast-paced environment, I did a thorough literature study

regarding the leading progress of reducing weight, maintaining or achieving nutritional health while

preventing micronutrient deficiencies, and loss of lean mass. In addition, the hands-on experience of

implementing nutritional support guidelines in actual bariatric patients before and after the surgery

required a comprehensive utilization of nutrition knowledge.

During the internship, I noticed it was difficult to communicate topics of nutritional support after

surgery to patients. In particular, micronutrient deficiency after bariatric surgery can be caused by various

mechanisms, including preoperative deficiency, reduced dietary intake, malabsorption, and insufficient

supplementation. Thus, I took the initiative to educate myself about how obesity is a risk factor for

malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency and how screening and nutrient deficiency correction before

surgery were imperative for a proper prognosis. Therefore, I summarized postoperative diet and food

content adjustments and interpreted the associated treatment methods to the patients in an approachable yet

thoroughly detailed way.

 My debut as a Nutrition major student greatly motivated me to make further contributions in this

field. As a result, I started a volunteer position at Student Services for Athletes in the third year. Being able

to translate the knowledge from the advanced class, Nutrition and Physical Activity, into athletes’ daily

diet handouts to promote a healthier eating habit was a rewarding experience, which showed me the

evident effect and benefits of scientific diet management. The successful experience of working with

athletes gave me the confidence to progress towards participating and helping my local community.

To fulfill this mission, I took advantage of my internship at the local Food Bank of Delaware. I

used my nutritional science knowledge, technology, and measures to research and solve community

nutrition and health management problems, including community nutritional needs, dietary structure, and

dietary behavior. Since my freshman year, I was thoroughly engaged with community nutrition and

witnessed different approaches to satisfy populations with various socio-economic backgrounds.

As a staff member, I intended to grow into a competitive individual and utilize my experience as a

student manager in the school dining hall. Overseeing and supervising the safe food production processes

helped me practice for the Servsafe Food Safety Management Training.

When it came time to decide to join the workforce or attend a graduate school, I chose the latter

without hesitation. This fast-growing discipline, nutrition science, covers a broad spectrum of nutritional

policy, nutritional education, and nutritional disease prevention. A higher-level training at graduate school

is necessary to promote the development and popularization of nutrition science and further benefit the

general public from a holistic perspective.

After completing my degree, I aspire to improve the community’s quality of life and provide the

basis for the national and local governments to formulate food and nutrition policies, economic policies,

and health care policies. The in-depth training will pave my road to qualify for a Dietetic Internship

position and pass the Dietetic Registration Exam. I can picture myself working as a Registered Dietitian

closely with patients. Independently engaging in clinical care and nutrition therapy-related services, I am

excited to provide cutting-edge clinical nutrition services comprehensively.