Shruthi Mathew may be partially responsible for propelling the New York Jets to victory next season! An accomplished student in the College of Saint Elizabeth’s dietetic internship program, Mathew will be shadowing a sports dietician at the Jets training facility in Florham Park. Over the next several weeks, she’ll be tasked with making recovery shakes in the weight room, nutritionally balancing the player’s meals and providing them with essential dietary information.
“Think of your body as a car. If you don’t fill it with the appropriate fuel, then it won’t work properly,” explains Mathew, who plans on becoming a sports dietician herself. “Eating a balanced diet can help your body perform at its optimal level.”
A former two-sport varsity athlete, Mathew developed a personal interest in nutrition upon realizing her diet was limiting her athletic ability. Instead of rehydrating and eating balanced meals after grueling meets, she’d routinely indulge in junk food. As a result, her body was running on fumes and seriously underperforming. Now, she hopes to educate other athletes about the importance of nutrition so they can reach their fullest potential.
Despite her lofty career goals and obvious intelligence, Mathew was initially rejected from CSE’s dietetic internship program.
“I didn’t have enough practical work experience to be accepted,” recalls Mathew. “It was the first time I had ever failed to accomplish a goal but Kathleen Carozza [the director of the dietetic internship program] didn’t give up on me. She gave me advice on how to increase my chances of acceptance and encouraged me to reapply.”
Between application attempts, Mathew shadowed clinical dietitians at Jersey Shore Medical Center, worked as a diet aide at Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health (RWJBH), and cultivated her nutritional counseling skills as a nutrition technician on the eating disorder unit at RWJBH.
“Working on the eating disorder unit was one of the best experiences of my life. It challenged my skill set and molded me into a better counselor,” says Mathew. “I realized that what I perceived as failure was actually just what I needed to grow.”
After gaining this wealth of real-world experience, Mathew was accepted into CSE’s dietetic internship program. She felt at home on the campus and in the classrooms immediately.
“I got my bachelor’s at New York University (NYU). It was a big school and I had very little guidance,” says Mathew. “CSE fit my needs perfectly because it’s more nurturing and provides one-on-one attention. The professors work with you to help you succeed.”
Mary Colleen Robinson has a communication degree with a concentration in journalism and is currently working as the PR/Social Media Specialist at the College of Saint Elizabeth
