Taylor Krippner knew that choosing to study dietetics while part of an SEC gymnastics team would raise the bar for her college experience. During her time at Auburn University, she was a star on the gymnastics team, named to the SEC Community Service Team and made the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years. And after graduation, she landed the perfect internship.
The College of Human Sciences Didactic Program in Dietetics at Auburn University has a 100 percent placement rate for graduating internship applicants. Krippner is only one of 30 of this spring’s graduates accepted into the competitive Auburn Dietetics program and matched to nationally competitive internship programs across the country.
Krippner’s internship at Texas Woman’s University allows her to practice at a hospital while also earning her master’s degree. The TWU Dietetic Internship Master’s Degree Program is a highly competitive, accredited internship that focuses on medical nutrition therapy.
“They specialize in clinical nutrition, so this program was perfect for me. I will be monitoring the health status of patients, creating meal plans, crafting hospital menus, counseling patients about nutrition, working in food service and helping all different kinds of patients with individualized needs,” Krippner said. “My education in and out of the college classroom has prepared me for what is to come in the nutrition field, but I know that there is so much more to learn every day and I cannot wait.”
While at Auburn, Krippner was named to the 2019 SEC Community Service Team. The honor recognizes students from each school who go above and beyond to help others outside of their athletic careers. Krippner was recognized for her extensive community service efforts, including her work teaching children the value of healthy eating.
“I would teach kids the value of eating healthy and educating them on the importance of basic nutrition while incorporating physical activity games to make the learning more enjoyable,” Krippner said. “This was important to me because I want the next generation of children to stray away from the unfortunate recent health trends of our country and grow to live a high-quality and healthy lifestyle so that they can enjoy their lives to the absolute fullest.”
Krippner said she’s honored to represent Auburn on the SEC Community Service Team. She said every student in the College of Human Sciences wants to help others with their education.
“Human sciences is its own little world,” Krippner said. “Everyone has so many things in common. We all have the same passion to improve quality of life for others and that is something truly special.”
Following the completion of her internship and master’s degree, Krippner said she’d one day like to open her own wellness resort in the Houston community complete with nutrition counseling, education classes, fitness areas and restaurant.
Drew Frugé, Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics, said Krippner’s class schedule often prevented her from attending team practices, so her motivation and commitment to practicing on her own and succeeding throughout the rigorous dietetics curriculum is to be commended.
“All of our students are very bright and are attending cool programs this summer,” said Drew Fruge. “These internships are so important because you can’t take the registration examination for dietitians without completing the 1,200 hours of supervised practice provided by the internship.”
This semester’s dietetics students were matched to some of the top internship programs across the U.S. such as the Baylor University Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University in Baton Rouge, Georgia State University, Loyola University Chicago, Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Vanderbilt University, to name a few.
Following their supervised practice, graduates will take the Commission on Dietetic Registration exam to become a registered dietitian or registered dietitian nutritionist. In addition to the program’s 100 percent internship placement rate, graduates of Auburn’s dietetics program maintain a 95 percent pass rate for that exam.
