Keiser University Port St. Lucie Campus Dietetics and Nutrition graduate Wanda “Pauline” Forshee is thankful to combine her life experiences along with the clinical evaluation and nutritional insights she’s gained toward helping pediatric patients and others with eating disorders and obesity.

Here, she shares her thoughts just prior to receiving her degree on Commencement Day.

 

Now a licensed Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with her own practice, Forshee also shared that she’d struggled for years with her relationship with food and as a teen was afflicted with anorexia nervosa. In addition to addressing nutritional needs, she shared that her healthy transformation came thanks to her faith in God, support from her church community, and the revelation that she was deeply loved by her creator.

As the years progressed, Forshee went on to serve as an early elementary educator, and in 2001 along with her husband Terry and sons Jake and Zu she joined church members to serve as missionaries in Tanzania, East Africa. There, while helping to establish additional churches and working with local educators Forshee witnessed the tragic death of many children due to starvation. The dire situation profoundly impacted her and further motivated her to take action.

After returning to the United States in 2005, she became a restauranteur and began holding free Healthy Cooking Healthy Living classes for local community members and later enrolled in Keiser University’s Dietetics and Nutrition program in 2018. Supported by her favorite Philippians verse ‘I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me’ she emersed herself in her studies and became heavily involved in campus activities.  “Keiser University Port Saint Lucie campus faculty and staff provided not only hope, but a means to believe in ourselves,” she smiled. “I’m thankful to have developed the scientific and counseling skills necessary to help heal others and in the process, I rediscovered my inner strength, zeal, and self-confidence to breakdown stereotypes and stand in my own light,” said Forshee, who through her Joy Rising Nutrition practice has vowed to help as many people as possible.

When asked what she’d recommend to others who are striving to realize their dreams, Forshee stressed the importance of a strong work ethic along with taking advantage of all occasions to grow. “I think many of us have a deep-seated hope that our future opportunities can be more than our present circumstances. Persist in the darkest moments, persist in spite of the tears, persist beyond frustrations, persist in the midst of pandemics, and persist when others quit. Always Persist,” she smiled.

Keiser University’s Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics and Nutrition combines clinical evaluation, community concerns, and foodservice management into a profession long valued for its service to individuals and the community at large and focused on optimal nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. The Coordinated Program in Dietetics is unique since the didactic instruction is integrated with the supervised practice.  Following graduation, students are eligible to take the Registered Dietitian/Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RD/RDN) examination.  Upon successful completion of this exam, the RD/RDN is eligible for licensure in Florida or any other state that licenses dietitians/nutritionists.

Keiser University is a private, independent, non-profit university serving nearly 20,000 students at 21 Florida campuses, online, and two international sites. Co-founded in 1977 by Chancellor Arthur Keiser, Ph.D., and Evelyn Keiser, Keiser University currently offers more than 100 degrees from associates to the doctoral level. Keiser University is a  designated Hispanic-Serving Institution, a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and was ranked No. 5 in the U.S. in Social Mobility by U.S. News And World Report in 2022.