Over the past several months, Sarah has been interning with Petaluma Bounty. After reaching out in August to learn what a Public Health internship at Bounty could look like, Sarah jumped right in and has been an asset to our team since! As she wraps up her program and looks forward to graduation, we asked her to share her story with the Bounty community!

Hi! My name is Sarah, and I have been interning with Petaluma Bounty since October. I am pursuing my Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of California, Berkeley. The program offers me a broad view on the public health sector, including concentration coursework in Health Policy and Management, Public Health Nutrition, Community Health Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Spatial Data Science and Global Health. One of the requirements for degree completion is to complete 130 hours in a practicum. 

I am originally from Scotland, but primarily grew up in Cazadero, California. If you are familiar with Cazadero, you know that it is very rural and steeped in nature. I grew up playing in the Redwoods and stargazing into clear skies, helping my mum maintain our one-acre property, and chopping wood for our wood burning stove. My rural upbringing is what kick-started my love for the outdoors and sustainable living, and has furthered my desire to learn more about how I can couple community health with local and sustainable initiatives.

I graduated with a Bachelor in Science (BSN) and a minor in Psychology from Dominican University in San Rafael in 2013 and have been working as a Registered Nurse in a multitude of settings ever since. Most of my nursing experience has been as an operating room nurse, but I have also worked in other acute care settings, COVID-19 emergency response, and community health care settings such as children’s camp nursing.

My primary objectives behind furthering my education were to become a more well-rounded care provider in whatever the next phase of my career will lead to – and to become more involved in the community side of health rather than the acute care setting. I felt that my contribution to the community and my ability to implement positive change would be the most helpful with the skill set that I could obtain through this graduate degree.

I have a passion for healthy living and nutrition, and therefore decided that working with Petaluma Bounty would satisfy both my personal passions and my requirements for school, while also allowing me the opportunity to explore a new professional field outside of the hospital setting. I have extensive education behind what valuable nutrition and access means to the individual and for public health, and I have experience in the acute care setting in seeing the result of poor nutrition and access, but I have no prior

 experience in the other side of nutrition – the side in which Petaluma Bounty plays such a vital role – the side in which an organization is entrenched within the community, in which resource allocation is evaluated and decided, in which funding is requested and contributed, and the side in which one gets to personally see the individual receive a vital resource.  

In my spare time I keep busy by training for a marathon, fostering dogs for a local animal rescue, spending as much time as I can in the outdoors, and enjoying time with friends and family. I find relaxation through avidly reading and also working in my vegetable and native plant garden. Within the last year, I was married in Scotland to the love of my life, Chris. As spring is starting and school is winding down, we are so excited to settle into married life together with our dog (Luna), two cats (Flora and Leo), and three chickens (Minerva, Beaky, and Ethel). 

When choosing my practicum, it was a priority for me to work locally within Sonoma County (I live in Santa Rosa), and to work with an organization that prioritizes people in need. Ultimately, I love my community, and I wanted to learn more about available resources and our hard-working organizations that do so much for our area – what those organizations must accomplish and pursue in order to succeed in serving our community. It was with great pleasure that I found Petaluma Bounty, and I feel so honored that they decided to accept me as their intern and take me under their wing. 

From day one, Petaluma Bounty has made me feel welcome, and has involved me in whatever programs I find of interest. With the trust and friendship that Petaluma Bounty has extended to me, I have been able to see and understand the extent of the work and collaboration that goes on behind the scenes of a non-profit. The primary projects and experiences that I have been involved in include data analysis and interviews while compiling a report for the Meat, Dairy, and Eggs program, launching the Farmers’ Market Ambassador program, being involved in staff meetings, working on a literature review, and of course spending some days on the farm and at the farmers’ market!

Now that I am gearing up for my graduation in May, I feel more ready and prepared to be a professional in the public health sector because of the experiences that Petaluma Bounty has offered me.