By

James Overton,   Quibbletown Middle School

Play:

Highlight Healthy Foods — Go Nutritious

Topics:

Access to Healthy Foods,  Student Leadership

We all know that snacking is an important part of our daily nutrition. But we have to make sure that we're making healthy choices when doing so. This school year, our Student Wellness Action Team (SWAT) was able to have a healthy option vending machine placed in our school's cafeteria. The idea and planning started over 2 years ago, when our then State Ambassador (and current Youth Council member) Viren, received a grant from Adventure Capital for his healthy vending machine idea. That was the easy part! The hard part was getting our school administration and district food service provider on board to help us get this going. That's when SWAT went into action! They created presentations for our building and district administration on the benefits of healthy options for students. The hit on everything from how their bodies would respond to how their brains would be better prepared for standardized testing. Because of their hard work and determination, we were able to secure a vendor that allows us to select the items we place in the machine and so far our student's have loved it!

How do you plan to make this Play last during the school year and beyond?

We have developed a very strong relationship with our vendor and we have already had discussions about changes we would like to make for next year.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

Our students (and staff members) have been forgoing the snacks provided by the cafeteria and instead have been choosing our vending machine that usually has options higher in protein and lower in fat and sugar.