Bryn Athyn College Alumni Magazine Fall/Winter 2017-18 | Page 33

running header committees to evaluate and select new dining ser- vices, Suzanne knew just how to lead the team. She said, “It felt providential to me—that after leaving Bryn Athyn with my associate degree, I would gain the experience needed to come back and serve in this way.” With their criteria articulated, Suzanne’s committee asked for proposals from various din- ing services and then interviewed the top candi- dates. While Sodexo—the College’s food service provider at the time—did not submit a propos- al, the College remains deeply grateful for their many years of reliable, committed food service. Ultimately, the College selected SAGE Dining. Suzanne said, “They’re an incredible com- pany. Eighty percent of what they make is from scratch. They do small batch cooking. They get locally sourced ingredients, even from the gar- dens here on our campus. They care about not only the freshness and health of what they’re serving, but also how they interact with our students, even offering to teach them culinary skills. They have their own group of registered dietitians who will interface with me.” She added, “The owners, Tina and Paco Rodriguez, are amazing people who embrace the idea of including the students who’ve worked at the College previously, and they’re known for their work with special-needs students. They’re just so on point and amazing to work with—in- cluding the food service director and executive chef, John Starrett and the district manager, Maurene Burns. You couldn’t ask for more.” The First Taste After being hired by Bryn Athyn College in the spring of 2017, SAGE was put to the test as student-athletes and coaches from various schools poured onto the Bryn Athyn College campus for summer lacrosse and soccer camps. The week that the first camps started, local gardener Danielle Odhner and farmer Andy Alps (from Bryn Athyn Bounty) came to SAGE with a “challenge”—a tray full of fresh veggies. The chef proceeded to incorporate all the vegetables into the meal that day for the sports camps. As Suzanne explained, “SAGE hit it out of the park, making camp food taste delicious. We had coaches and kids saying, ‘This food is fantastic.’” The College’s mar- keting communications manager, Angella Irwin (BA ’08), said, “One coach told me that he always expects to have at least one unappetizing meal when he eats camp food, but he and his athletes enjoyed every meal here.’” SUZANNE NELSON Suzanne Nelson, Sc.D., R.D., is the dean of students and sports nutritionist at Bryn Athyn College. Throughout her career, Suzanne has worked with a variety of athletic teams and has counseled adolescent, collegiate, and Olympic athletes. She is a nationally known speaker in sports nutrition. She served as a consultant to the San Francisco Giants and was a team nutritionist for the San Francisco 49ers and University of California. She served as the director of sports nutrition for the department of intercollegiate athletics at the University of Washington and as an adjunct instructor in nutrition in the department of epidemiology. Suzanne was also a consulting nutritionist to USA Wrestling and a member of the nutrition advisory committee for USA Swimming. Her work with athletes has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she is the author/ editor of several books, including Ultimate Sports Nutrition, Nutrition for Sport and Exercise, Nutrition for Young Athletes, and Play Hard Eat Right: A Parents’ Guide to Sports Nutrition for Children. Suzanne earned her Bachel or of Science in psychology at Ursinus College, her Master of Science in clinical nutrition at Drexel University, and her doctorate in nutritional science at Boston University. Suzanne, a registered dietitian of the American Dietetic Association, has served as chair of the Graduate Nutrition Education Department at Immaculata College and as clinical director of the Weight and Eating Disorders Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she completed a fellowship in adolescent medicine. She was also director of the outpatient nutrition clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and director of clinical trials at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. B RY N AT H Y N A LU M N I M AG A Z I N E | 33