For 10 weeks during this past summer, dietetics junior Kristen Heitman visited the small town of Nome, Alaska. Heitman worked as a Summercise intern. The program involved working in a hospital next to dietitians and helping with the Summercise program, which aims to lower the chances children in Nome are diagnosed with diabetes. Heitman said she taught the children various activities, such as cooking and swimming. The State News was able to catch up with Heitman to ask about her summer experience in Alaska.
The State News: Do you have a particular story you will remember from the trip?
Kristen Heitman: One interesting thing was that since we were so far up north in Alaska … we had 24 hours of daylight for about two weeks to three weeks. … We would go out fishing a lot, and we wouldn’t keep track of time. We’d be fishing, and we’d be like, ‘Oh, what time is it?’ It’d be like 3 a.m., and we … didn’t know because the sun was still up in the sky, so we would have to run home and sleep because we had to get up for work.
TSN: How did you sleep with all the light?
KH: It was hard … I would sleep with a sweatshirt on and I put the hood over my head, and then I put (on) another blanket.
TSN: How were the kids?
KH: Oh, the kids were awesome. They were so energetic. They were excited to meet new people in their town because the town only has about 3,500 residents, so they know … if you’re (not) from there. … They were willing to learn. … It was encouraging to me to see them get excited about nutrition and see them actually trying to learn.
TSN: What were some of the activities you did outside of working?
KH: Hiking; I visited some hot springs, we would go “bridge jumping,” and berry-picking, picking wildflowers (and) we picked tea.… Eating (with) the local people was really cool; like, I found some kids my age, and I’d just kind of hang out with them and talk to them about their culture … I ended up swimming in the Bering Sea one day, and it was part of a local festival that is called the Midnight Sun Folk Festival.
TSN: What types of food did you try while visiting Nome?
KH: I got to try a lot of the native food, like moose … Oh, moose was so good; I’ve … had moose before, but not … Alaskan moose, so it was good. And caribou and muskox, which is kind of like a buffalo, and lots of salmon. … They only have two grocery stores in Nome; well, they have three – one is kind of a grocery store – but the food there is really expensive. … Watermelons were on sale one week for $30 a watermelon … Everything was really pricey.
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