Sebasthian Varas is originally from Chile. He moved to the United States to further his education when he was 21 years old. Sebasthian is a Registered Dietitian who is passionate about child nutrition programs, nutrition education, and foodservice operations. Sebasthian holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Sebasthian began his career as a Registered Dietitian for Jordan School District in the state of Utah. He was responsible for developing and analyzing school menus, providing staff training, coordinating nutrition education, and supervising special dietary needs for 90 schools. Since 2009, Sebasthian works for Canyons School District in Utah as the director for Nutrition Services. He is responsible for providing leadership and direction in matters pertaining to child nutrition programs for 33,000 students. He manages 43 schools and 275 employees.
Sebasthian is a member of the School Nutrition Association (SNA) where he has served in several leadership roles at a state level. He earned the School Nutrition Specialist credentials from SNA and he also is ServSafe Certified. He also is a member of the Action for Healthy Kids Utah group. He has also hold leadership positions for that group at a state level. Sebasthian is fluent in English and Spanish.
Jeffrey Boyce: I’m, Jeffrey Boyce, and it is Saint Patrick’s Day actually, March 17, 2023. I’m here in Okolona, Mississippi and I’m doing a Zoom interview with Sebasthian Varas of the Canyon School District of Utah. Welcome, Sebasthian, and thanks for taking the time to talk with me today.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Thank you.
Jeffrey Boyce: Could we begin by you telling me a little bit about yourself, where you were born, where you grew up?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So I’m originally from Chile. I grew up there and moved to the United States in my early twenties, and being here for a while now currently living in Utah and been working as a food service director since 2009, and in food service for child nutrition since 2005.
Jeffrey Boyce: So I guess if you were in your twenties when you came here you did your secondary and college, your schooling, in Chile.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: I did my whole high school in Chile, and I did part of college in Chile, and then I moved here and had to start over again, of course, because I changed majors and everything, but yea, got my nutrition education background here in the US.
Jeffrey Boyce: Oh, okay. Were there lunch programs in Chile when you were in elementary or high school?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Not like they are established here in the US. There were, but they were privately owned at the time, not federally funded, so you had to pay for it if you chose to participate. If not, you have to bring your own.
Jeffrey Boyce: Oh, okay. Did you break during the middle of the day so people could go home for lunch?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: No. So you were there at school the whole time.
Jeffrey Boyce: Okay, the reason I asked is my wife is originally from Morocco, and they started early, but then they would have a couple of hours for lunch, and then go until about six in the evening. So they went home for lunch.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Things have changed now, I’m sure. I graduated in ‘95.
Jeffrey Boyce: Well, you’re still a spring chicken compared to me. Tell me about your education here. Where did you study? And what did you study?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So I went to Brigham Young University, and I got my bachelors of science, and I majored in dietetics and nutrition. Then to become a registered dietitian, I had to do an internship with Utah State University.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And then I had to take, of course, the registration exam to become registered.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And after that, I also went back to school, and I got my master’s in business.
Jeffrey Boyce: Oh, okay. I cannot tell you how many people I have interviewed that end up going back, and they either get an advanced nutrition degree, or they get a business degree, because so many people say that the director is such a businessperson now. Do you feel like your education helped prepare you for what you’re doing now in child nutrition?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Definitely. You have to get a background in nutrition if you want to make a difference. I became a director before the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, not knowing we were really kind of paving the way for the regulations that were to pass through that act. So we pay attention to whole grains and more fresh produce; to lower fat items.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Also, I made it a point as the director to also hire another dietitian to be a part of my staff. Because, like you said, being a director – in my district, right now, it’s about 35,000 students, which is a mid-sized school for Utah, but large enough that as a director I cannot be in charge of everything. So the dietitian would be in charge of menu planning, special needs, and marketing, promotion, nutrition education, all those things that I can’t cover, because of the amount of employees we have to manage, and all the other responsibilities that come with the director position.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: But education certainly has helped. The nutrition background in case I need to talk to parents and explain why we do certain things and follow regulations, and the business background to run the department as a business. You have to know how to run a business.
Jeffrey Boyce: Did you go to school knowing you wanted to get into child nutrition, or how did you end up with that as a career?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: No, not at all. I’ll make the story short. But back in Chile I was studying to be an attorney, and it’s a little different there, because you have to go for 5 years to become an attorney. So I did have that. And then I realized I didn’t like it.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So I moved here, and I didn’t know what to declare as a major. So I kind of knew that I wanted to do something to do with health. So I went into school kind of like knowing that, but one of the requisites for that program was to take a nutrition class, and I really enjoyed it. So I made it a point to take another one, even though it was not required, and then I took another one, and then my advisor finally said, “You have so many nutrition classes, I can see that you like it. Have you considered dietetics?”
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And I hadn’t even heard of dietetics up to that point, and then they showed me what it was, and I saw that I had a lot of the prerequisites for that program. I said, “Well, you know it makes sense, and I like it.” So that’s when I made the decision.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And even ending as a school nutrition director, it wasn’t planned either, because you go to school and the whole focus is more on clinical nutrition or management and community. But we didn’t touch much on school programs. I mean, we talked about it, but it wasn’t in-depth.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: But when I did my internship, the emphasis of the internship was child nutrition, and they sent me to be an intern in a school district for three months, and that’s where I discovered the program. I fell in love with it. And I said, “This is what I want to do.”
Jeffrey Boyce: Oh. What positions did you start with? What positions have you had before you became a director?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So when I was the intern of that school district at the time, here in Utah there were no dietitians employed in the school district.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And because I liked the program and the school district and the environment, I kind of made it a point, I said, “I want to do such a good job that they would see the value of hiring me at the end.” And they did. They opened a position after I left.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And I just had to tell them. “Please wait for me, because I still have four more months of my internship, so I can’t apply right now. But if you wait for me, I promise I’ll apply, and if you hire me, you won’t be disappointed.” So luckily for me they waited. I applied, and I got the job. So I started as a dietician for the school district.
Jeffrey Boyce: Okay? Well, that’s a great story. You must have done a really good job as an intern.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: I hope so. I mean it. The people I worked with too, I was very blessed. It was just the right fit, you know.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And yeah, two years after that I became a director, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
Jeffrey Boyce: Great. Is there anything unique or special about Utah regarding the federal child nutrition programs?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Well, honestly, I’ve only worked in Utah, so I have no point to compare with other States.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Maybe what I want to say is not going to be unique to you, but I do think that really the people you work with in child nutrition is what makes the difference. This is a people business oriented field, and they do it because they care, and they want to make a difference for the students, and just the past few years have been a great example when everybody was in lockdown. The ones that were in the front field giving out meals, not knowing, especially at the beginning what Covid would do, and exposing themselves, were the child nutrition people, and feeding our students.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And I mean, we can all agree they don’t do it for the money. I mean, yeah, the paycheck is nice at the end of the day, but we’re in the public sector. They’re not going to be rich. But they do it because they care, and they make a difference in our community. And I think that’s what’s unique about our programs is that the people who work here really care about our student population, making a difference.
Jeffrey Boyce: I think it’s really special people that are drawn to child nutrition. I’ve learned that doing these oral histories. What’s the typical day like for you? Or is there such a thing?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: That’s the beauty of our job is that you never know what you’re going to get, especially lately, because it’s been hard due to Covid.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: You don’t know. But I think if I look back at this school year, a typical day would be actually getting into the office. And then seeing, where are we lacking labor? That’s been one of our biggest struggles. This school year is just the lack of labor. We haven’t been able to recover from all the people that left due to Covid, and we’re still short-handed. So we go through that list, and we see what schools are in the best shape, so that they can probably spare a worker, or if there is not enough, we just go to schools and work.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And then we do paperwork, or whatever other business that we have to do after service of the meals for students.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And they come first. So that’s our typical day this school year.
Jeffrey Boyce: Well, my next question was going to be what were some of the biggest challenges you face? But I think you just answered it. Has there been anything else that’s been really fairly difficult over the years?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Well, yeah, if I look back over the last 3 years, of course last year the biggest challenge was supply chain, and all of this, the disruptions, and not getting a lot, or having a product not available at all. That was one of the biggest challenges. This year that’s way better. We’ve had only a few things that we haven’t been able to get, and some of them have been due to labor sometimes.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Milk comes to mind. I’ve had my milk distributor saying, “I have no drivers to deliver the milk. I have a product, but we have no drivers.” So this year it’s more labor related.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: The other thing is that people are feeling overworked. It’s a challenge to keep morale up and keep your employees happy. They worked non-stop for all these years through Covid, because they’ve worked summers too, some of them.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And so it is a challenge just to keep morale up and to make your employees happy, and to still make them see the value of what they do.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: We look forward to hiring more people, and that things will get better eventually.
Jeffrey Boyce: I hope so. What changes have you seen in the profession over the years? You said you’ve been a director since 2009?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: A director since ’09; I’ve been an intern involved in the program since 2005, so there’s been quite a few changes in the program in that period.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: I would say that one of the biggest changes that I’ve seen is that school meals are healthier than ever before, and they’re good quality, and I’ve seen a change in more thoughtful menu planning put in place.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: We have good regulations. And as it is, I think the current regulations as they stand, they’re really good, and they help the students select items and products that are going to make a good impact in their health, and hopefully create healthy eating habits too, for the future.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Some of the things that I’ve seen is that we went from serving huge desserts every day to now we have limited desserts, and they have to be whole grains. So that is something that has made a difference in students’ lives. However, if you ask me what I would like to see in the future, I would like to see these current regulations be sustained. I think at this point there is no need for further restricting, and the biggest issue that we see is that as healthy as our meals are, unless they are also exposed to this way of eating outside of the school, it’s foreign to them, and they may not want to participate, or they may not find this as appealing as what they would get at home, or in fast food restaurants or anywhere else.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So that’s a challenge, too, because we do such a good job. But then if they don’t follow through outside of the school with the same kind of choices, then it’s hard to compete against that.
Jeffrey Boyce: What would you say has been your most significant contribution to the field so far?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Oh, wow! I don’t know. I kind of feel like it’s bragging about myself. I’m going to tell you a few answers. I have never been able to find a dietitian that was hired in the school nutrition programs in Utah before me. And honestly, I mean, and I’m not trying to put myself like oh, I’m the one that paved the way. But then, after I was hired as a dietitian, and after I became a director, I have been encouraging other school districts and other entities to involve more dietitians in the school nutrition field.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Because it makes sense. And now, 16 years later, there are several dieticians in director positions or several school districts that have dietitians on their staff here in Utah, who are helping with all of that nutrition background, in supporting our programs.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: But honestly, I think the biggest contribution that I can think of for the programs, I really call it a success when I have students that I serve, and they can get a meal, and then they are happy, and we support their educational goals by being well nourished. And that’s why we do. What we do is to help students succeed.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: I still remember when I was first starting, and I was in charge of a special diet, and we had a student with celiac disease who couldn’t enjoy pizza. That was something so simple.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: but I was able to get. I was able to get him gluten- free pizza at the time, which I’m talking 15-16 years ago, which was hard to get those products. Nowadays they are everywhere.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: But I still remember the parent and the students coming to my office and saying, “Thank you. You made a difference, because now my child can go eat with their friends, and have the same meal, and not think that they are different because they have a condition.”
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So that’s stuck with me, and that’s the reason I do what I do is to make a difference in someone’s life.
Jeffrey Boyce: How did you encourage the hiring of dietitians? Are you active in the state or the national school nutrition associations?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Yes, I’ve always been involved. I said, “If I want to be in this profession, I just gotta get involved in different levels.” So first, the school district that I’ve been able to work with in even the one that I’m directing now, we belong to a purchasing group with 20 other school districts, where we share practices, and we’ve talked about successes and what works, what doesn’t, so I can share my experience on what works, and encourage people to work with dietitians. That was one way.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So they kind of used me like a little bit as a spokesperson to encourage other people to work with dietitians. I didn’t do it for a long time, but at least, for I would say 3, 4 years. They had me going and talking to other directors.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: On top of that, I’ve always been part of the School Nutrition Association nationally. But since 2012, I’ve been involved with the Board in the School. Nutrition Association of Utah. So I ran for Vice President, and I got elected. So I did the Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Past-President rotation. And after that I became the Legislative Chair for this state, and I still am. It’s been now almost 11 years since I’ve been involved with that at a state level.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: So I get the chance to go and present at state conferences and talk about the value of the programs in general.
Jeffrey Boyce: Do you have any memorable stories of people you’ve worked with or special children you’ve served over your career?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Yes, both.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: I still remember the kindergarten, where, when I was an intern, they put me to work in a Title 1 school, and I just went as a worker. I was preparing food, serving food, and I still remember this little child, a kindergartener, saying, “I’m still hungry. Can you give me more food?”
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And at the time, as an intern, I didn’t realize all of the rules and regulations that we had to follow on how you’re not supposed to actually give a second meal. But I asked the manager, since this was a little kid in a Title 1 school, and we didn’t know if they had food at home or anything. “Can we give him something else?” And then the manager said that, “Yeah, we can give him like more fruits, more vegetables.”
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And quite honestly, maybe the manager didn’t follow the rules of the time. But again, I go back to this is a people-oriented business, and they take care of kids.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And I remember that that kid is what made me think ‘If I can make a difference for this kid, I can impact way more. If I go into this field. I don’t want him to go hungry.’ So that’s that with me, and that’s the reason why I chose this profession.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And people I work with. Oh, there’s been so many. But I want to mention just two who I consider were key for me to choose to stay in this profession. One of them was that manager that I mentioned.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: She was the kindest person that I’ve met and I consider her my inspiration in just taking care of kids.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And she did such a good job, making sure that everybody was fed. And she met their physical and emotional needs, for all of the students.
But the second one was my director at the time, the one that hired me a dietitian. She became my mentor.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: She saw the potential I had, and she helped me achieve my goals. I remember she sat me down in my evaluation in the first 6 months on the job, and she said, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “Well, one day, I want to do what you do. I want to be a director.” And she said, instead of telling me, “ Oh, you’re too young, you’re just out of college,” she said, “Let’s work on it and let’s create a plan.”
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And she guided me. And yeah, 2 and a half years later I became a director.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And so she had a huge impact on me. And that’s maybe why I encourage other people to become directors. I’ve always encouraged dietitians, even my own that I hire, to become directors. In fact, one of my great friends was one of my interns when I hired her as a dietitian, and I pushed her to be a director, and she’s now a director. So I enjoy doing what she did for me for other people.
Jeffrey Boyce: That’s wonderful. What advice would you give someone who was considering child nutrition as a profession today?
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: I would tell them that it’s a lot of hard work, but it’s very rewarding.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: And people who work in child nutrition, we’re very passionate. I have to remind myself that even though what we do is very important, we are here to support students and to support the educational system, and we have to help people see the value of our profession for sure, but ultimately that we’re there as a resource to help them succeed academically.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: But it’s very rewarding. Yeah, it’s hard. I mean you’re on your feet most of the day, you know, working in an environment that could be hot and humid, and lifting things that are heavy. But at the end of the day, when the students come through the line and say, “Thank you,” to you and give you a smile, that’s your paycheck.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: That’s what you take home.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: But if they want to make a difference, child nutrition is what’s the right for you. So yeah, I really love this profession. And so for people who say, “Are you planning on staying on this for the rest of your career life?” and so far the answer is, “Yes.” That’s the answer. I don’t want to do anything else. I’ve had other opportunities, and I always pass on them because I go back to working with the students and the great people that we associate with.
Jeffrey Boyce: That’s admirable. Anything else you’d like to had today.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: No. I think that’s it. If I think of something, I’ll let you know.
Jeffrey Boyce: Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today.
SEBASTHIAN VARAS: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.
