You Can Take the Girl Out of the Agriculture…

“We have four generations of doctors in my family.” “My mom, dad and grandfather are engineers.” “I’m the 10th generation on my family farm.” “I have no family background in agriculture, but that’s what I want to do.”

We’ve all heard lines similar to the first three before. But, how many times have you heard the last one? While it’s obviously common to step outside the family career path, doing so to move into agriculture isn’t. However, after visiting several farms on school trips, Mary McKenna (class of ’78) decided that’s what she was going to do.

To attend NSAC, Mary moved from her home in Sussex, N.B. With no family background in agriculture, she did so based on the love for farming she found after her school visits. However, once Mary arrived, plans changed slightly.

“I realized I just wasn’t cut out to be a farmer. I didn’t have the means, financial and otherwise, to make it.”

Upon her realization, Mary began speaking to her professors about what to do.

“ Professor McConnell, my biochemistry professor, suggested nutrition. If I’d been at a bigger school, I don’t think I would have been given this advice. I wouldn’t have had the same interaction with my professors. All of the professors at NSAC were so helpful and the quality of teaching is excellent. They taught relevant, pertinent information.”

After leaving NSAC to complete a food science (nutrition) degree at McGill, Mary obtained her masters in nutrition at Cornell on a graduate fellowship.

“I was a little concerned about doing well in the Ivy League, but to my relief, my courses at NSAC had prepared me well.”

She began working at University of New Brunswick (UNB) in 1986 and completed her PhD at the University of Nottingham (England) in 2000.

The focus of Mary’s PhD, school nutrition policy, led her to contact Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the States. The timing was perfect as CDC was interested in her research and sought Mary’s input on school nutrition. This input allowed her to develop more connections at the CDC, which ended up leading to a new opportunity.

“In late 2002, the person who had been helping me with my PhD was promoted. I was contacted by CDC and offered his position in the Division of Adolescent and School Health. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so I took a five year leave from UNB and moved to Atlanta, Georgia.”

Her decision proved to be a smart one and enabled her to work on implementing legislation from the 2004 US farm bill that required school districts to adopt wellness policies that addressed healthy food choices and physical activity. Working as a health scientist for school nutrition, Mary was thrown into the centre of activity.

“My PhD was a perfect fit. I had experience with the topic so I was very busy developing resources and traveled a lot to assist jurisdictions with developing policies. I helped create a book called ‘Making it Happen: School Nutrition Success Stories’ – about 50,000 copies were distributed. I was also heavily involved in a CDC project that resulted in establishing national nutrition standards for food in schools. It was an exciting time.”

Mary continued her work with CDC until 2006 when she was called back to work for UNB.

“I knew it wouldn’t be a permanent thing but I was glad I took the opportunity. And it all happened because of an e-mail I sent when doing my PhD. So don’t ever hesitate to ask and put yourself out there. You never know what may happen.”

Since her return, she has continued to work on school nutrition programs and policies from her position as a professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at UNB.

“Nova Scotia, along with a few other provinces, is actually doing pretty well with school nutrition policies. However, we always have room for improvement. It’s interesting for me because some policies are now moving more towards supporting local agriculture and being environmentally sustainable. With my background from NSAC, I’m able to understand and participate in the discussions. My NSAC education has been a great asset to me.”