In the News
Nutrition Success Story
The Junior Enrichment Program in the summer of 2012 served hundreds of summer lunches, but also priceless food for thought. The Issue: Homeless or underserved women and their families are less likely to get proper nutrition needed. Affordable food is too often unhealthy, so children in the Junior Enrichment Program have likely grown up with less than desirable choices. The youth in this program often lack proper nutrition or eating habits. What EFNEP Has Done: Marta Acosta, nutrition educator, taught EATFIT summer-long at the Youth Enrichment Program, utilizing “Turning Technologies” for the first time. This new method allows children to use “clickers” to answer questions. Not only fun for the youth, it’s easy for them to answer questions and to track their responses. Marta’s weekly classes included topics like vitamins and minerals; healthy beverages; different types of exercise; how to read nutrition labels; and finding your pulse after exercising. The younger children learned “Happy Healthy Me” lessons, complete with visits from Calci the UC Cow! Sister Mary Clennon from the center stated: “(She) believes the program offers these young people information and activities they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to learn or experience.” Marta gave these children information useful for the rest of their lives!
The Pay Off: Based on answers the children gave in pre- and post-tests, using those “clickers,” the youth learned and retained a lot of knowledge that summer! At pre-test, only 1 person (7% of the class) knew jogging was an aerobic activity. By the end of EATFIT, 53% of the class got it right! Another amazing fact is that by the end of class, 100% of the youth knew dairy products were a good source of calcium. During an interview about the various Enrichment Program classes, one child said the most interesting class was “Marta and her weekly nutrition information about not drinking soda.” Another child added, “(He) liked learning how to find my heart rate after exercising.” In just 6 food-and fitness-filled weeks, the youth in this program gained so much knowledge about nutrition, that now they can make healthy choices for life!