Jake Conner

Alumni Office, Nutritional Sciences

Conner applies research skills he learned in FACS to his job as an Extension agent

Major/year graduated

BSFCS, Dietetics and Culinary Science & Nutrition, 2020. M.S., Nutritional Sciences with a concentration in Community Nutrition, 2024

Current occupation/location

Family and Consumer Sciences Agent, Walton County. Monroe, Ga.

What do you love about your current role?

The best part of my day is getting to teach people information that could save their family hundred of dollars or potentially keep them healthier. I get to teach nutrition to help people manage chronic disease. I get to teach people how to budget. I even cover more obscure topics like radon that most people don't know about that can be very harmful to their family's health or potentially cost them thousands of dollars. 

How did your time at FACS help prepare you for your life or career?:

FACS taught me how to be a good researcher, to find correct information in what can be a difficult landscape. FACS encouraged my curiosity so I can then take that information to my community to help people. 

What advice would you give current students who aspire to a similar career?

The advice I would give to folks seeking a similar career would be get comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Being able to go up to someone at a networking event or off the cuff public speaking are daily occurrences that many people would find to be difficult. 

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were a student?

What I wish I could tell Jake the student would be to go out and try more things that have nothing to do with your degree program. UGA is an amazing university and I learned so much, but it is also such a unique environment where you'll never have access to the same kinds of clubs, cultural events, and activities.