ROCHESTER, Mich. – Being a Student-Athlete is never easy. The long days, hours upon hours of practice and school work, but also maintaining an internship all on top of that as well seems unimaginable.
Senior Softball Pitcher Mary Newton is defying odds, doing the extremely difficult, yet rewarding balancing act as she thrives in her role as an intern with Oakland Athletics Sports Performance department as an intern Dietitian.
Newton transferred to Oakland in 2024 from the University of Dayton. When she arrived at Oakland University, she had her heart set on what major and what she wanted to do.
“I’ve changed my major a couple of times now but when I transferred into Oakland I took a Health Sciences major and then a minor in Nutrition so I’m on track to go to Masters school and get my dietetics degree,” Newton said.
Newton knew from a young age that fueling your body with the proper healthy foods is huge for an athlete.
“My dad would tell me ‘You have to eat healthy foods in between games, no concession foods’ so I think properly fueling your body gives you the right energy… Some things will drag you down and not give you the acuity you need to play your sport at the highest level,” Newton continues. “So I think properly fueling your body and learning what to eat has made a huge difference in my game, just made me feel cleaner, stronger, and faster on the field.”
Newton started her internship with Sports Dietitian, Madison Wyatt, this year and with this internship, it helps her find her true passion heading into her masters.
Wyatt, a former soccer player at University of Florida, is the head Sports Dietitian at Oakland. After graduating from Florida, she returned to her home state and received the opportunity to work as a Dietetic Intern at the University of Michigan.
“As a dietitian I am teaching people and working with people whether its clients, athletes, or patients. Whatever population you are working with, kind of teach them what to eat, how to eat, and when to eat, to make them either recover, perform better, and have a better relationship with food,” Wyatt said.
As a student-athlete it is difficult to get hours for internships, but Wyatt understands as she once was a student-athlete like Newton. Wyatt helps Newton balance her hours and workload and get the best experience out of the internship.
“She’s doing a lot of stocking the fueling station, she is also on the back end doing some research stuff for me. She is involved in many different projects, she’s making different presentations, different handouts but a big piece of what she is doing is the fueling station downstairs.” Wyatt said.
Wyatt gives Newton high praise for her hard work and dedication while balancing 3 major loads.
“She’s a go-getter, she’s very responsible, always on time, organized and all of that which is why I wanted her to help me out. So I think for her I’ve been, not just throwing her into it, but trying to expose her to as many different things as possible. I do stuff with teams so she’s been able to do a lot of shadowing with that kind of stuff, potentially having her run some presentations and things can be helpful.” Wyatt said.
“I love it, so it doesn’t feel like busy work to me. With anything in life if you truly love it, you’ll make time for it,” Newton said about her position in Sports Nutrition.
Newton is poised to continue her position throughout her graduation at Oakland this upcoming year. In a place she came to heavily based on her on-the-field prospects, she may have found another calling, off the softball field.