According to data released by County Health Ranking and Roadmaps, Kentucky is ranked in the top 10 states for obesity and in the top of eight states for the most physically inactive.  Marion County reports that 39% of the population is obese and 34% is physically inactive.

 I partnered with Marion County School, specifically Lebanon Middle school to offer Teen Cuisine classes as an after-school club.  Teen Cuisine is a curriculum helped teach teens key concepts about nutrition, food preparation, cooking, food safety, and physical activity.  This curriculum consists of six lessons.  Due to time constraints, I was only able to teach five lessons.  The goals of the five lessons were to teach the middle school students how to apply the My-Plate to meal and snack planning, identify foods that were nutritious and low in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium, read and follow a recipe, demonstrate safe knife-handling skills, preventing foodborne illnesses, reading food labels to make healthier choices, and understanding that importance of physical activity and ways to incorporate it daily.

  The target audience was middle schoolers that were in grades sixth through eighth.  The average weekly participation was 10 students weekly.  The participants consist of three males and seven females.  One of the males was multi-race and other two males were white.  All of the females were white.  

  On the post survey, 71% of the students reported that they have been physically active in the past seven days for at least 5 days or more.  71% of the students also reported eating fruits and vegetables.  However, 85% of the students reported that when eating out they do not choose the healthier option or read nutrition labels to compare foods and drinks.  85% of the students did report they use proper food handling procedures to help prevent foodborne illnesses such as washing hands, washing fruits and vegetables, and using separate cutting boards for raw meats and fresh produce.