Childhood Obesity has been a state wide issue for many years. The Madison County School System has tried to prevent this through various health & wellness programs offered in each school. One of the middle schools adopted a life skills class that was offered to 7^th graders for nine weeks to teach basic nutrition, measuring, food safety and proper hand washing.

The Snap-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) Assistant was asked to teach MyPlate for Teens, Grains, Dairy, Fruit/Vegetable, SoFA”s, Think Your Drink, Safe Food Handling, Measure Savvy, and Proper Hand washing. As a result of these lessons, 100% showed improvement in one or more core areas with 100% improving their ability to choose healthy foods. 83% showed increased physical activity and 67% showed improvement in safe food handling practices. One student reported that as a result of these lessons her family has opted not to drink soda anymore.