Be Bone Smart
To educate high school students about the health benefits of dairy, the Hispanic Health Council's after-school program (Hartford, CT) implemented a youth peer educator project called "Be Bone Smart with 3-A-Day." A major goal of the program was for students to become nutrition peer educators promoting the importance of three servings of dairy each day to people their age. The program included:
- A group discussion centered on calcium-related facts
- A cooking activity with make-your-own pizzas topped with part-skim mozzarella cheese
- Peer education on the benefits of dairy through a 3-A-Day Jeopardy game played among students at the after-school program
- A school newspaper article placement about the program and the importance of calcium rich foods written by the students in the after-school program
Before the campaign, 56 percent of students surveyed named osteoporosis as a risk of not getting enough calcium, and only 31 percent listed obesity as a consequence. Upon culmination of the campaign, 90 percent of students surveyed identified osteoporosis and 73 percent identified obesity as possible consequences of low calcium intake.
Making It Happen!
Ronan School District 130 in Montana is working hard to encourage students to make healthier food choices and their efforts are being rewarded. The story is featured on pages 103 - 105 of Team Nutrition's Making It Happen: School Nutrition Success Stories. One of their strategies is to control their expenses by "balancing" the menu items they use in their after-school snack program. They combine:
- No-cost items -- commodities, including fresh fruits and vegetables
- Low-cost options - for example homemade banana bread using commodity flour and left-over bananas
- Higher-priced options - one favorite is branded peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
To learn more about Ronan's and other terrific programs, check out Making It Happen, which is available online or in print format. For details, go to www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/makingithappen.html.
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