Connecting Champions program coordinator Danielle summed up 19-year-old Julia perfectly: “She’s like the coolest person ever!”
Julia, a freshman in college, is super interested in the field of bariatrics. Growing up watching shows about weight loss, she has always been intrigued by nutrition and weight management.
As the owner of her own clinic for nutrition and weight loss management, Julia’s mentor, Megan, is helping to expand Julia’s knowledge of the field. “As soon as I met Megan, she was bright, funny, and she asked me a lot of questions about myself and got to know me,” said Julia.
“They have an awesome friendship because Megan is very good at helping Julia with career preparedness and college prep in terms of what classes to take and her major, masters, and internship opportunities,” said Danielle.
Recently, Julia and Megan have been working hard to understand how nutrition and cancer are related. “Julia realized when she was going through the cancer journey how much her nutrition affected how she was feeling every day,” said Danielle. “I think Megan is trying to encourage her and show her what an interesting niche in the world of dietetics is to have that firsthand knowledge of cancer and nutrition.”
Megan and Julia work great together as their conversations involve them “geeking out” over nutrition and dietetics. Julia is also able to use her conversations with Megan as a break from thinking about her diagnosis; it gives her the opportunity to focus not on her diagnosis but on the future and being able to help others.
One of the most incredible things about Julia is her ability to advocate for herself. Danielle notes what a strong young woman she is and the beauty of her friendship with Megan. “Yeah, they’re awesome. They’re so cool!”
Julia and Megan have begun doing a deep dive into what college classes would be best and all of the possible degree paths that Julia can take while at school.
Although Julia knew what field she wanted to get into, her friendship with Megan has helped solidify her dreams while giving her a clearer vision to be everything she’s ever wanted.
“I feel like I can really look up to her with how successful she is and how many people she’s helping,” said Julia. “I feel like Connecting Champions has really put a lot of effort in finding the right mentor for me. I feel like this will really impact and benefit me for life.”
