Our brand of nutrition education is unique because it doesn’t always begin in the classroom. Of course it can if you use the new Balance My Day nutrition education curriculum, but what I’m talking about takes that concept and spreads it everywhere kids live, learn and play.
Schools, businesses, communities, healthcare organizations, families, and kids can all support a culture of health. Nutrition education is just one of the ways each of us can help in the fight against childhood obesity. It’s becoming easier now than ever before with the national Let’s Move campaign. There’s something everyone can do.
See below for some of the highlights of what we’re doing with our unique twist on nutrition education beyond classroom curriculum…from win-win partnerships to toolkits, from student chefs to a national recipe contest.
1. Top 5 Ways Healthy Kids Challenge Supports Let’s Move
2. Chef Inspired, Kid Approved
3. Partner Spotlight: Orange County Public Schools OCPS
4. 3 Students Win “Chef for a Day” at School
5. MyPlate, Meet Colorful Plates…Helping Kids Be Healthy
6. Timely Trio: The PEP Grant, Healthy Kids Challenge and SPARK
7. Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids: 4 Actions Schools Can Take Now
Partner Spotlight: Orange County Public Schools OCPS
February 16, 2011
OCPS student, chef with Healthy Kids Challenge Director
Orange County Public Schools OCPS, Orlando, Florida, and Healthy Kids Challenge have been Partners In Health for several years now. From energizing school wellness teams to offering creative ways to get kids excited about school meals through the HKC Ready, Set, Cook and Eat™ event, to showcasing how to integrate nutrition education into science and math curriculum, many success stories exist.
The most recent and the most honoring for all involved is the Healthy Kids Challenge involvement with OCPS in their Chefs Move to Schools program.
The Orlando Sentinel has featured many fun pictures here: Pictures: OCPS Chefs’ new menu promotion at Edgewater High School
Hats off to Orange County Public Schools from Healthy Kids Challenge!
Just one example of how creative partnerships can mastermind simple solutions to health.
Chef Inspired, Kid Approved
February 14, 2011
Healthy Kids Challenge was honored to help Orange County Public Schools unveil new Chef Inspired, Kid Approved school lunch recipes at a unique Chefs Move to Schools event at Edgewater High School Auditorium, Orlando, FL, in celebration of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative.
Sam Kass, White House Assistant Chef and Senior White House Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives (far right), and Dr. Janey Thornton, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (right), watch as Metrowest Elementary School chef students show off their recipes. (USDA photo by Debbie Smoot)
The official Let’s Move Blog features USDA Deputy Under Secretary for the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, Dr. Janey Thornton’s account of the event.
We join Dr. Janey Thornton, Chef Sam Kass, Orange County Public Schools’ (OCPS) Foodservice Director, Lora Gilbert, and all the chefs, students, teachers, support staff, and administrators in celebrating this exciting event!
We recognize, too, that this was no small feat! Imagine all the work it took to bring 10 schools together to work with outside chefs and create new healthy recipes to use for school lunch. We believe OCPS is a model school district for food and nutrition. Stay tuned, because this is only the beginning!
