After moving from Hy-Vee to the Austin Public Schools, Dietitian Jen Haugen is already in tune at the district.

“I’m loving it, it’s great,” Haugen said.

As the new food and nutrition services dietitian, Haugen has already worked with families who have students with special dietary needs, such as gluten allergies and diabetes. She has also worked to optimize the menu options at the schools. Haugen will visit each school to see what students would like offered, conduct taste tests to find what they like, and hopes to combine those suggestions in a healthy way to introduce food items students will enjoy.

The changes aren’t going to be sudden. Haugen said she will work over a longer period of time to enact the bigger changes and give students more options. For now, she is working with Food and Nutrition Director Mary Weikum to figure out where those changes need to be made, and what is already going well.

The new position, which she started in August, has been going fairly smooth so far, and Haugen’s prior experiences don’t hurt.

During Haugen’s previous jobs as the dietitian at Hy-Vee and seven years at Mayo Clinc, she gained experience and knowledge working with people and children on healthy food choices. At Hy-Vee, she formed Sprouts: Get Out and Grow — recently renamed Hy-Vee One-Step Garden — in 2011 as a gardening program to introduce children to healthy, homegrown foods. After the garden’s success in Austin, Hy-Vee corporate took Haugen’s program to dozens of Hy-Vee stores in eight states.

Her new position calls her to promote health and nutrition throughout the school system, as well as optimize nutritional offers in the district.

“I think a general knowledge of what’s needed for students, nutrition-wise, just being familiar with nutrition in general is definitely helpful,” Haugen said. “[Sharing] the positive side of food and nutrition, and I’m continuing that here.”

Yet Haugen isn’t only focused on providing information to the students about healthy living.

“We are also working on communicating that with staff and students and the community as well,” she said.

She hopes to get input from students, staff and parents, and has even created a website and a Twitter account for easier access. The Twitter will show pictures of the food that’s actually on the students’ lunch trays or what has been offered previously. She hopes to be able to communicate easier with the online tools.

“We’re really just using that as a communication tool,” Haugen said.

To access the Twitter account, go to #isd492food.

Haugen said she is excited to see what’s in store for the future.

“I’m excited to be here and work as a team to really make an impact on the food and nutrition that we offer to all the students in the school district,” she said.