Help My Sister Become an RDN!

My name is Nicholas Burrage (pictured on left) and I am secretly raising money for my older sister, Darlyn Szczepanik (pictured on right), to buy her the equipment she needs to begin her journey this fall to complete her Master of Science in Nutrition through the Dietetic Internship (Distance Track) at Marywood University. She has already been awarded this internship, which will fully prepare her to take the certification exam to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) once completed. You may learn more about the program here .

Because it is a distance program, the funds will be used primarily to purchase her a much-needed replacement Mac computer (her current laptop—which I gave to her after using it to get through my undergraduate program—is 9 years old and on its last leg!), an extended warranty so she can have peace-of-mind for the duration of the program, and the necessary software to complete her coursework. 

After the 2.9% fee for using the GoFundMe platform, we are left with a total of $2427.50 (our goal).

Items to be purchased if our goal is met:

- Base-model 27" iMac  = $1799
- 16GB of RAM Upgrade = $200
- Apple Care+ (3 years of accidental damage coverage and 24/7 expert technical support from Apple) = $169 
- Microsoft Office 365 Personal (12-month Subscription; 1 Person) = $69.95

Estimated tax: $134.28
TOTAL: $2372.23

This leaves her with a difference of $55.27, which will be applied to miscellaneous expenses like necessary apps, cables, or adapters. 

We are hoping to have the funds pulled together by May 31, 2019, so that we can present the gift to her as a surprise during her graduation party on June 2. 

If you can help us make her dream a reality, we would be very grateful for your generous contribution—any amount will help, honestly! I will also follow up with each of you and send along  a few pictures of her reaction once she finds out what we have collectively gifted her. <3

What follows is an excerpt from her personal statement that she wrote and submitted when applying for the program, which explains much more eloquently why she is pursuing the degree and is likely also why she wound up being the only one awarded the internship this year. As you can see, I'm a very proud little brother. :)



Personal Statement (Opening Paragraphs):

As a career changer, many people ask what drives me to become a dietitian. Looking back, so many experiences prepared me for this moment. Growing up on a farm as the oldest of six children, I prepared many family meals. I packed lunches for my siblings every day, making sure they had their favorites plus milk money. I cooked dinner for the family at least once a week. From our family store, I delivered groceries to my grandmother on Sundays because she did not drive. Throughout high school, I cooked at my father's seafood carryout. However, no one in our family understood healthy eating. My father insisted on eating meat which exacerbated his gout. We drank cola and sweet tea with everything. During senior year, my mother and I crash dieted together. We hung a chart on the bathroom wall and weighed ourselves every day, never drawing a clear relationship between what we ate and dropping pounds, unaware of how to change our choices for better nutrition. When I moved out, I learned about foods our family never ate: things like yogurt, avocados, olive oil, eggplant, or grapefruit. From then on, my kitchen was alive with the sights, sounds, and smells of good things cooking.

As I began experimenting, I loved the color and versatility of food, the way food is the center of culture and the heart of families. Food, I realized, is sustenance as well as celebration. Food is not only nourishment, it is how we care for each other and how we care for ourselves. I began searching for ways to enter this exchange. I considered culinary school, but I did not want to be limited to being a chef. I wanted to understand food and influence others to use food to live fuller, healthier lives. One day, my grandfather asked me what I would study in college. He was Type I diabetic, and his health was failing. As I knelt beside his armchair for the last time, I told him I want to study nutrition. Today, I aim to merge my passion and life experience with skills I learned in business to become a nutrition entrepreneur, writer, speaker, and advocate.