posted on Thursday, April 25, 2013 in News
AMVC was honored to help plan, sponsor, and be a part of what was a great evening of food, fun, and education for the Iowa State University Student Dietetics Association. Dr. Bob Blomme and his wife Linda along with Brian Handlos for Two Palms Grilling, Rachel Burton, AMVC’s Director of Public Relations and Adria Sheil-Brown, RD, LD, Registered and Licensed Dietician, for the National Pork Board were all in attendance.
The ISU Student Dietetics Association is a club with approximately fifty members. The SDA is committed to helping those with an interest in the Dietetics profession, by providing opportunities for leadership and professional development. The club is very active in campus wide events; most recently having had a VEISHEA booth to let those in attendance 
know all about the club. SDA also brings in several different speakers during their meetings held every other Tuesday to help educate the members of the dietetics profession.
AMVC’s connection to the SDA is through Dr. Bob Blomme. Dr. Blomme’s oldest daughter, Courtney, is the 2012-2013 Co-President of SDA. Courtney saw the need early on to help educate her fellow future dieticians on the health benefits of pork as well as the swine industry as a whole. AMVC feels it is very important to help educate the future dieticians in order to ensure the truth about the livestock industry is being heard and the nutritional benefits are being mentioned.
In order to gain the attention of the thirty-five members and their faculty advisor in attendance for this event, we provided them with a delicious pork meal. Brian Handlos, of Two Palms Grilling, prepared two delectable pork loins that went over very well! To completment the pork, Brian also served garlic mashed potatoes, steamed buttered corn and sliced fresh fruit. As Brian was putting the final touches on the meal, he informed the students of how he prepares the meal, proper cooking temperatures, and some of the health benefits of pork. The students were in awe of the meal and we heard many compliments; it was the best pork they have ever had, it was delicious, they can't remember the last time they had a home cooked meal that was so great, the compliments went on and on.
Dr. Bob opened up their business meeting with a brief overview of who AMVC is, what we do for the swine industry, and the measures we take to provide pork for the world. Dr. Bob had this to say about the event, " I have to admit, it was one of the most rewarding activities I have ever professionally been involved with. AMVC and Two Palms had the opportunity to influence the next four years' worth of dieticians graduating from Iowa State University, which is one of the larger dietetics schools in the United States. It went better than I could have anticipated."
Adria Sheil-Brown, RD, LD, and the Manager of Nutritional Communications & Research was our main presenter for the evening. Adria spoke on the new consumer friendly names for pork cuts that consumers will see in the grocery stores as well as the health benefits of eating pork. Adria has also been in the student's shoes and spoke on her experiences through Iowa State, SDA, and now with a career in Dietetics. Adria reinforced the opportunities the dietetics majors have in front of them and how her day is spent working with health professionals highlighting pork’s “skinny 7” cuts of meat. She did a fabulous job relating to the students and making it a fun experience for all that attended.
A big thank you goes out to Courtney Blomme for instigating, helping coordinate, and making this event happen. We are certain Courtney will go far after graduation from Iowa State University in May with plans to continue her education in Cleveland, Ohio, with a one year internship followed by obtaining her masters. We could not have had such a positive impact on the students without the outstanding meal prepared by Brian and Pat Handlos with Two Palms Grilling. Lastly, we are very grateful that Adria from the National Pork Board was able to be in attendance and help educate these students.