Fall 2025 Opportunities with Farm2Clinic

Are you an innovative, passionate, exceptional ECU student leader looking to make a difference in rural eastern NC?

Farm2Clinic is seeking students like you to train as Navigators to provide the Fresh Start Program (1 on 1 care, healthy food, group culinary medicine, exercise, health and nutrition classes) at no cost to uninsured patients across 30+ ENC counties.

Opportunities for Navigators include the following:

  • Direct patient care/clinical hours
  • Address regional, rural health disparities in eastern North Carolina
  • Food recovery work
  • Co-lead community-engaged/based programming – group classes
  • Sustainability/media/outreach efforts (marketing, fundraising)
  • Public health/clinical research

What are the next steps?

  • Register for NUTR 4901 Special Topics (online) with Dr. Lauren Sastre in the Department of Nutrition. Seats are limited!
  • Can I fulfill other/my major/program internship needs with Farm2Clinic instead of or in addition to NUTR 4901? YES — we love having interns! Please reach out to Dr. Sastre at sastrel18@ecu.edu.
  • Are there prerequisites? No.

How does this experience work?

Step 1: Enroll in NUTR 4901 (or internship course through major/department) and choose 2-3 areas to focus on within the Fresh Start Program. You will be divided into teams based on interests for instruction/training.

Step 2: Achieve > 90 in NUTR 4901 (or satisfactory internship evaluations), > 90 on both written and practical exams. Commit to approximately 5 hours/week of work within the Fresh Start program 6 months post-exam date.

Step 3: Complete 6 months with Fresh Start program as a Navigator within your selected areas of interest. Approximately, once a month (evening or Saturday) in person duties will be required, all other duties will can be completed virtually.

Additional experiential field hours/course credit is available (NUTR 3995, 3996, 3997) but is NOT required to serve as a Navigator. Students who demonstrate strong leadership potential during the 6-month Fresh Start program delivery, may be invited to continue in paid leadership roles.