According to the Community Health Status Indicators report, Meade County has several areas which need improvement in relation to health and wellness. While our obesity and overweight rates have decreased 4% over the past years to 22% we still have 78% of residents who eat few fruits and vegetables and 28% who do not engage in daily exercise. Research supports that youth who are active will have strong muscle and bones and leaner bodies, because physical activity helps control body fat and decreases the risk of developing Type II diabetes. During the 2016 County Extension Plan of Work process, the need for youth programs to address the consumption of fruits and vegetables was identified.  The long term goal for addressing this issue is that the county population will increase average consumption of fruits and vegetables by one or more servings per day.

The Extension Agent for 4-H Youth Development Education was approached by Ekron and Payneville Elementary Schools about implementing the Professor Popcorn program with their fourth grade students (157 total) for the second year in a row.  Through the continuation a community partnership with these schools Family Resource Service Center Program Coordinator, a 4-month, 6-session program was scheduled for all fourth graders in these two schools.  The focus on the fourth grade program lessons was MyPlate; which provides education on the five food groups (i.e. protein, dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables).

By participating in the Professor Popcorn program, it was a long-term goal for the students to develop into healthy adults by gaining an interest in eating healthy foods.  Specifically, youth will choose to consume more fruits and vegetables, eat breakfast daily, encourage their families to buy more fruits and vegetables and to have them readily available and within reach.

A pretest was conducted to establish a knowledge baseline for learning.  Forty-six percent of participants ate vegetables and twenty-nine percent ate fruit.  The Meade County School System provides a free breakfast to all its students, yet only thirty-nine percent of these fourth graders ate breakfast daily.  When asked about their family environments, fifty-eight percent of participants would ask their family to buy their favorite fruits or vegetables and forty percent stated they would ask their family to have fruits in a place where they could reach them.  

A posttest was conducted to assess changes in behavior.  Overall, 157 students received a total of 942 hours of food and nutrition education with an eight-three percent increase in the six targeted behaviors.  With an increase of eleven percent, fifty-six percent of participants were eating vegetables.  An increase of forty-one percent concluded that seventy-eight percent of participants were eating fruit post-program.  In regards to eating the free breakfast provided by the school system, eighty-nine percent of participants, an increase of one percent, were eating breakfast at school on a regular basis.  In regards to their family environments, sixty-three percent, a ten percent increase of participants were asking their families to have fruits in a place where they could reach them and forty-six, a five percent increase, of participants were asking their families to have cut up vegetables.