The following blog is a detailed list of academic works created by Elexis Connally for educational purposes in the field of Nutrition and Health Sciences for the 2019 Applied Nutrition Graduate Program at the University of New England.
Elexis Connally is a Volunteer Service Coordinator for Open Hand Atlanta that represents the organization in public meetings and provides presentations of the organization to the community. She also assists with Social Media initiatives, newsletter articles and volunteer thank you posts on Facebook. She currently assists in managing the large-scale volunteer programs of 10,000+ volunteers annually and maintained relationships with corporate, community, and faith-based volunteer groups. Throughout her time at Open Hand Atlanta, she has increased volunteer participation to meet the environmental need and improved the Market Basket volunteer shift by strengthening communication with our nutrition department that has lead to minimized waste and in turn maximized the volunteer efficiency. She also won the 2018 Pacesetter Award for inspiring excellence, accountability, and productivity in others; fostered teamwork and collaboration; contributed to a positive work environment; and showed respect and caring for clients, fellow employees and volunteers. She also recruits, trains, and supervises volunteer groups up to 50. In the beginning of her time at Open Hand, she performed research to create nutrition education training materials for groups of students for alternative spring break programs. She was also a fundamental part of assisting in the transition to a new operating system and training volunteers on using the new technology.
Nutrition Education and Health promotion has been a major aspect of Elexis’ success in her current career. Although her main focus is on volunteer coordination, she also is regularly presented with situations where she is required to make decisions regarding food options for clients with chronic or critical illnesses. Fore example, being able to distinguish between what is required in a meal plan for renal dialysis patients compared to diabetic patients gives her credibility in her field of work and allows her to accurately serve the individuals receiving meals from Open Hand Atlanta.
Food and Nutrition has always been a subject of interest for Elexis even during her grade school years. The desire to develop healthy meal plans for her family and friends was second nature and continued on into her adult life. However, she began her undergraduate studies as a Biological Sciences major with an end goal to enter the medical field. After attending an introductory course in Food Science, she decided to switch her major and completed her coursework by receiving her bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Nutrition from Clemson University in May of 2015. During her undergraduate years at Clemson, she started off working as an Administrative Assistant at Humphrey Trucking, a Team Member and Delivery Driver at Jimmy John’s Sandwich Shop, and an Administrative Assistant at Gus Thornhill’s Funeral Home. After receiving her degree, she traveled to Panama City, Panama for a 3-month Culinary Arts internship with the Kalu Yala Institute where she was able to use her knowledge to reduce food costs by using seasonal ingredients, develop menus with portion sizes and dietary restrictions designated for specific individuals, and develop a self heating solar food dehydrator using sustainable materials. Upon her return to the U.S., she moved back to Atlanta, Georgia and began working as a Graphics and Printing Specialist at Gus Thornhill’s Funeral Home, where she still maintains employment designing marketing material for funeral program sales and drafting and publishing obituaries on behalf of families.
In the year of 2016, Elexis decided she wanted to further her education in the field of food and nutrition in order broaden her knowledge base and increase her likelihood of obtaining a position within the food and nutrition industry. After researching several majors and education programs throughout the field of food and beverage, nutrition, and health promotion, she later enrolled in the online Applied Nutrition Program at the University of New England with an emphasis in Nutrition and Disease Prevention. She plans to graduate with her Master’s in May of 2019 and continue on to obtain a position as a Nutrition Coordinator/Educator. In ten years, she sees herself in a position working in a foreign country to provide food for people less fortunate and teach them how to maintain healthy lifestyles on their low incomes.
When she isn't working, you’ll find Elexis relaxing at home, hiking, doing yoga, going to the movies, enjoying great food, or spending time with her friends, family, and four playful dogs. She also enjoys traveling to different areas of the world to visit historical sites and artifacts, eat different native cuisines, and meet new people of different cultures and lifestyles. Her future goal for this year is to travel to see the temples and ruins of Thailand and Cambodia.
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