“Eating and living healthy works,” says Prince Awhaitey. It’s something he’s seen and felt firsthand in the places he’s lived around the world, and it’s inspired a desire to educate others about healthy eating.
Prince was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but between the ages of 6 and 8, he spent time in Ghana, West Africa, where his parents are from. “I loved it,” he recalls. “I remember just running around, being outside, playing soccer, having fun—just being a kid.” Since then, he’s gone back nearly every year to visit.
Prince always had an interest in health, stemming partly from his mother’s work as a nutritionist in Ghana, and it fascinated him to compare the health systems of Ghana and the United States. “The health system in Ghana could be a lot better,” he says. “They’re just not as up-to-date, and they don’t have as many resources as we do here in America.”
Despite being behind in technology, he noticed that the people in Ghana were healthier overall. “They live a healthier lifestyle: they cook their own fresh food, they’re outdoors more, and they get more sunlight,” he says. “Compare that with all the processed food here in America. You start to experience fatigue and not feeling great, and you realize that the food you’re eating is causing a lack of energy.”
Around the time Prince was ready to start high school, the family—Prince, his mom and dad, and his younger sister—moved from Georgia to Vermont. His parents worked various jobs, and his mom eventually opened her own African grocery store at 336 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington. “Her desire to feed people with healthy food has been contagious. She inspired me,” says Prince.
He’s also quick to note that healthy eating isn’t an end in itself. “My philosophy is that living healthy shouldn’t be the goal; living healthy provides the energy to reach your personal goal, whatever that may be.”
Prince himself took a while to explore various paths, and today, his own personal goal remains multifaceted.
As a student at Burlington High School, he took health courses through the technical program at VTC. When he went on to college at Virginia State University, he was thinking about becoming a nurse or a physician’s assistant. “I wasn’t aware that dietetics could be a profession,” he recalls. “But when I took a nutrition class as an elective, I learned about it, and I switched majors.” He graduated with a bachelor’s in dietetics.
After college, Prince says, “I explored a little bit.” He worked as a pharmacy technician, then taught for a short time in Costa Rica. “I worked with kids from 10 to 18, and we did a lot of projects involving nutrition. I discovered that I’m an educator,” he says—a realization that’s motivated his interest in teaching people about the benefits of healthy eating.
“Kids definitely hold you accountable,” he says with a laugh. “Especially when you hear, ‘I want to be like you when I grow up.’ That makes you think, ‘You know, I’ve got it pretty good.’”
“You work with kids in communities that are struggling, in places like Africa and Costa Rica, and you realize that people are studying things they have no passion for because that’s what’s available to them. Here,” Prince says, “we’re in a gold mine. There’s so much opportunity.”
That perspective, he says, convinced him to invest in his education. He earned a master’s degree in special education from Virginia State and a master’s in nutrition and food science from UVM. When he decided he wanted to earn his dietician’s license, he turned to VSAC, a program he’d become familiar with in high school as a source of college loans. He connected with Hemant Ghising, an outreach counselor for VSAC’s Educational Opportunity Center, or EOC, which advises and supports adults who want to go back to school, either to earn a degree or to gain professional credentials.
“Man, that guy is wonderful!” Prince says of Hemant. “He made the process really easy and convenient for me.” Prince was also grateful that VSAC could offer financial support for a non-degree program.
He now has a year left in his course of study, which is a remote dietetics certification program offered through the University of North Florida. He’ll be doing clinical rotations with Porter Medical Center in Middlebury and Community Health Center in Burlington, and an outpatient rotation with the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program.
Prince is also pouring his passion as a health educator into a business that hopes to leverage corporate wellness programs to hold employees accountable for their nutrition and physical activity. Through his business, Thecocobar.com, Prince sells customized coconuts, which he laser-engraves with corporate logos for organizations to give away as promotional items. “It’s a sustainable giveaway that promotes health. It’s more exotic than a stress ball or a keychain, and it doesn’t end up in the landfill. You can drink the water, you can eat the coconut meat or use it in cooking, and you can make the husk into a candle or keep it as a souvenir. People love it.”
Prince participated in the Burlington Generator’s Jumpstart program, which he says helped him clarify his strategy and messaging. He has already appeared at several Burlington events, including VBSR conferences and the SHRM human resources convention.
“I have these different ventures in life that all relate to health. The experience I have has given me the confidence to basically build my own brand.”
This story is produced by Vermont Student Assistance Corp., created by the Vermont Legislature in 1965 as a public nonprofit agency, to advocate for Vermont students and their families to ensure that they achieve their education goals. Our vision is to create opportunities for all Vermont students, but particularly for those—of any age—who believe that the doors to higher education are closed to them. We begin by helping families save for education with Vermont’s state-sponsored 529 savings program. To help Vermonters plan and pay for college or career training, our counselors work with students in nearly every Vermont middle school and high school, and again as adults. Our grant and scholarship programs attract national recognition, and our loan programs and loan forgiveness programs are saving Vermont families thousands of dollars in interest. Visit vsac.org to learn more.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Eating healthy to fuel life’s goals.