The Supplemental Nutrition Education Assistant Senior (Snap-Ed) at the Madison County Cooperative Extension Service has a good working relationship with several of the teachers at a nearby middle school. For many years the Assist has taught nutrition, life skills, etiquette, and cooking classes for this teacher as part of this schools STARS program. Each year, as a reward or catch-up period, the students are offered “bonus” classes that last nine weeks provided they are doing well in all core classes. As part of the reward, the students give subjects at the beginning of each semester that they would be interested in learning if the opportunity should arise.

Madison County schools opened the 21-22 school year in person with some restrictions. With COVID cases still at high levels, the school had some concerns about volunteers being in the classrooms. Because of the friendship between the two, this teacher felt comfortable reaching out to the assistant to see if the University of Kentucky had lifted restrictions as well. They planned for the assistant to come teach these 7^th grade students what a healthy plate looks like and how food is grown. This was a seven-week class with 14 students who learned myplate, fruit/vegetables, whole grains, dairy, protein, and food safety. Each week they were given a recipe to try at home and were expected to report on what they had learned or taught their families. The class was a great success with all participants reporting change in everyday knowledge and practice. Since then, the assistant has taught several versions of this class for this teacher, each one with different successes. Eventually, the assistant was allowed to do provide food demonstrations and tasting which only added to the success of the program. At the end of each grading period, the students are allowed to make suggestions to the school staff for the next round. The assistant’s nutrition program is still at the top of the list even though the staff decided they needed a change for the year reserving this class for next year’s students.