2024年7月9日

Martin taking education, experiences at Northwest to 军队 Medical Specialist Corps

As Allison Martin realizes a long-term goal this summer of entering the 军队 Medical Specialist Corps, she is reflecting gratefully on the education, experiences and support she gained at 和记棋牌娱乐 to help her attain that goal.

Martin graduated from Northwest in April with a master’s degree in 应用健康和运动科学, adding to her bachelor’s degree at Northwest in 食物和营养 以营养为主.

She recently became one of just 14 candidates throughout the country who were selected this year to join the Specialist Corps as a clinical dietitian and for direct commission as an officer in the U.S. 军队.

“Every class really set me up for whatever job I wanted to get into,马丁说, noting the benefits within Northwest’s dietetics program of learning about the clinical environment while enhancing her skills and building awareness of community issues. “Nutrition just isn’t, ‘Well, I’m going to give you a diet plan.’ It gets into food service and clinical nutrition and knowing how to work with someone, to counsel them through different issues.”

Martin, a native of Wisconsin, started her college education there before joining the 军队. After three years of active duty at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington, she and her husband were relocated to Lincoln, 内布拉斯加州, and she continued serving as a member of the National Guard for the next seven years.

Simultaneously, she held a desire to one day finish her bachelor’s degree. 这让我去了和记棋牌娱乐.

“那是夏天,马丁说着回忆起当时的想法, “‘人, 这真的很不错, 这是一所很小的学校.“所以我就这样做了决定.”

Martin, 36, has long held an interest in becoming a dietitian. After finishing her bachelor’s degree with the support of the GI Bill, she completed Northwest’s 营养学实习 and began exploring opportunities for a master’s degree to strengthen her qualifications.

Conscious of her goal to apply for the Specialist Corps and the five tenets of the 军队’s Holistic Heath and Fitness model – nutrition, 物理, 睡眠, spiritual and mental readiness – Martin earned a personal training certification and enrolled in Northwest’s 应用健康和运动科学 program to round out her skill set. She continued gaining clinical experience outside of her coursework in roles with Mosaic Medical Center in Maryville and Care Initiatives in Des Moines, 爱荷华州, 等.

此外, Martin took advantage of opportunities to work 关闭ly with faculty and staff and built relationships with peers that made her feel at home at Northwest.

She was vice president and treasurer of Kappa Omicron Nu, the success network team coordinator and vice president for the National Society of Leadership and Success, and president of the Northwest Student Dietetic Association. She also served as president of the Student Veterans Association, which lends support to Northwest’s annual 9/11 stair climb event 以及熊猫的田径运动. 她参加了和记棋牌娱乐的年度活动 密苏里州的希望 emergency response field training exercise as well as Atlantic Hope, which simulates a humanitarian crisis也.

在攻读硕士学位期间, she worked as a graduate assistant in the School of Health Science and Wellness and became involved with 运动是良药, an initiative to promote 物理 activity and improve the health and well-being of the Northwest community. And last spring, Martin was a nominee for Northwest’s Graduate Assistant of the Year award.

She says being a non-traditional student may have provided her an advantage.

“I had more life experience coming into college. I think for me it was easier to understand some of the concepts I was learning, but it was also easier for me to be a leader to other students and set an example.”

The Specialist Corps, a branch of the U.S. 陆军军医部(AMEDD), is comprised of occupational therapists, 物理治疗师, clinical dietitians and physician assistants. Each year candidates participate in a lengthy interview process that includes a board review and ends with the selection, 因专业而异, 只有最合格的人才能胜任.

“Everyone that I worked with at Northwest in any capacity truly shaped not only my career, but I could not have got into AMEDD without every single one of them helping me and providing education and experience along the way,马丁说.