As the Madison County extension agent, I was invited to collaborate with the Powell County agent and several community partners to come and teach for an "Adulting Day" for the Seniors at Powell County High School.  The students worked through four rotations or classes for about 45 minutes each where they met two presenters in each group that covered various topics with them including basic nutrition, grocery budgeting, food safety, and basic kitchen skills. We served around 150 students total for the day.

In my session, I partnered with a local bank representative and we discussed some budgeting strategies that the students can employ as they venture off into the world next year for college or the work force. We discussed name brands versus store brands, meal planning, couponing, and scheduling to accommodate their personal budgets with the students.  They participated in taste testing activities and sampled couponing for a week to figure up an example of what their year of savings could potentially be.  The students were provided with sample limited ingredient recipes that could serve them well on their own.

Other sessions focused on healthy simple recipes as well as knife skills, understanding food safety, and nutrition labels with servings sizes. At the end of the day, all of the students verified that they learned something in at least one of the sessions.  The majority of the students shared that they learned something new in two or more of the sessions.  

The post evaluation showed that 85% of the students learned "some" or "a lot" in basic nutrition, 93% learned some or a lot in grocery budgeting, 98% learned some or a lot concerning food safety, and 96% learned some or a lot in basic kitchen skills.  100% of the students reported that they felt more comfortable choosing foods at the grocery and also more comfortable in their knife skills.  99% of the students reported that they could efficiently figure servings sizes based on nutrition labels. 98% noted that they felt more comfortable to prepare themselves a meal.