Summer 2015 NACUFS Internship!: Welcome to the University of Connecticut!! Week 1

Welcome to the University of Connecticut!!

        My name is Nicole Andler and I will be a senior at Penn State University next year majoring in Nutritional Sciences, Dietetics and minoring in Kinesiology. I have lived in Pennsylvania my entire life so coming to Connecticut was a pretty big move for me, but I have enjoyed it so much since my arrival. I can't wait for all of the experiences I am about to embark on not only in this internship with UConn Dining Services, but also during my weekend travels with my lovely intern partner, Sarah Tombo. Speaking of Ms. Tombo here is more about her!...

       Hello! My name is Sarah Tombo and I will be a senior at Miami University next year majoring in Nutrition with a focus in Dietetics. I left my family in Northeast Ohio in hopes of learning as much as possible from the Food Service Department of the University of Connecticut, traveling around New England as much as my schedule allows and of course, eating great food along the way with great company. A few days into the internship and I can easily say I have done just that. I can't wait for the rest of my time here!

      Throughout the next eight weeks both Sarah and I will be sharing our adventures both inside the internship and other activities outside of the work place. We both have a huge passion for food and traveling so we are both excited to share our experiences and many photos during the next eight weeks!

Week 1 May 19th-25th

Tuesday 19th

   On our first day of the internship Sarah and I got a tour of campus with Carol Cronin who is the Assistant Manager of Whitney dining hall and our coordinator for the internship. We got our employee ID cards, our parking passes, and began touring the eight dining facilities at UConn. We spent a large portion of our afternoon in South Commons which is the main dining hall that we will be working out of this summer. It was exciting to meet so many new people and that they were all just as excited to meet us.

In the evening Sarah and I decided to walk all over campus (over 6 miles to be exact) trying to figure out how the campus is spread out and of course visit the statue of Jonathan (the mascot for UConn.)

Hi, I'm Sarah!!

Hi, I'm Nicole!!

Wednesday 20th

       On Wednesday we had a welcome reception to celebrate our arrival to the program hosted at the restaurant, Chuck & Augie's, in the Student Union. At this reception, we were introduced to Dennis Pierce the Director of Dining Services among over twenty other managers and employees who help run Dining Services at UConn. It was amazing to see the amount of teamwork and dedication that each staff member has to make Dining Services a success and provide the best foods for the students at this University.

      On our lunch break, Sarah and I were able to brainstorm ideas about our main project for this Internship, which is a theme meal that will be held at the end of June. We talked with Carol Cronin and Pam Blume about our ideas to get more feedback on what ideas we had so far.

Thursday 21st

      The morning 6am shift was rough at first working as kitchen assistants because we had to be up before the sun, but we got right to work in South Commons. Sarah and I worked with two full time kitchen assistants to set up the fruit and salad bar for the breakfast and lunch meals. We cleaned fruits, chopped vegetables, and made salads for the lunch meal. The full time staff was very helpful and as a team we were able to get through our tasks quickly and just in time for our lunch break!

   FoodPro training took up our afternoon hours working with Dave Barbera to show us how to use FoodPro and its importance in Dining Services at UConn. In relation to our theme meal, this program will be very important when looking for recipes and going through the ordering process.

Friday 22nd

    It was finally Friday, (TGIF) and we had the morning shift working as Assistant Managers with Andy Iverson. Andy gave us both an amazing overview of the work that he does as an Assistant Manager and how he has worked his way from a student worker in Dining Services at UConn, to an Assistant Manager at Gelfenbein Commons. We talked about the importance of walking the floor during shifts to ensure that the customers are pleased, and that the staff is providing the best product possible. In the afternoon, we were able to also work with Assistant Manager Chris DelMastro who has only been at UConn for a few months. It was refreshing to hear about Mr. DelMastro's background in healthcare and how he has applied his background to his new job at UConn.

Memorial Day Weekend 23rd-25th

     Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!! Since it was our first weekend in Connecticut, we got a lot of great travel ideas during the week from many of the staff members at UConn. We decided to go with a crowd favorite and visit the Newport Mansions and the city of Newport in Rhode Island on Saturday. Newport was a gorgeous town and the Mansions were unbelievable (the pictures do not do them justice). There was also a Cliff Walk right along the water near the mansions which gave us some beautiful views of the oceans and many more mansions that we didn't get to tour. We went to downtown Newport to get dinner near the water at the Barking Crab and enjoy some delicious food!

The Breakers Mansion

Rosecliff Mansion

Cliff Walk in Newport

On Sunday Sarah and I woke up at 8 am to travel to Maine! We went to Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and spent the night in Rockport, ME. We had the opportunity to see a lighthouse, eat lobster rolls by the seaport, and go hiking in Camden Hills State Park!! A great way to end our first week at UConn!!