Bailey Dingfield

Responsibilities

My responsibilities included creating health promotion communication and marketing materials such as flyers, and writing wellness articles. I also created and led stretch breaks for employees, collected and entered data for wellness challenges, assisted with new recruit agility testing for firefighters and police, and researched various wellness topics.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment was helping to create and develop a summer wellness challenge. I created a Parks Passport Challenge that encourages employees to get out and explore the parks Ames has to offer. I created a tracking sheet, communication and marketing materials, and guidelines for implementation of the challenge. I enjoyed getting to be creative with this project and work through the different stages from idea generation to implementation.

Learning experience

The greatest lessons I learned from my experience were how to communicate well as a professional and the importance of understanding the population you are working for. I had to do a lot of communication in my internship, from casual emails and conversations to mass-marketing emails to all departments and leading sections of meetings. I learned the importance of being confident in my own knowledge and work. I worked in health promotion, which included employee wellness. The City serves a wide range of employees such as CyRide, Library, and Public Works, all of which have different wellness needs. I learned the importance of building connections within each department, understanding that employees have different wellness needs, and thinking critically to meet them.

What advice would you give?

I would encourage students in community and public health, and kinesiology in general, to say yes to any opportunities that would help them gain experience. Shadowing professionals, working customer service jobs, and joining clubs are all great ways to add to your experience and help you build professional skills while you learn about what you enjoy doing.