Problem: Students trying new fruits and vegetables. 

Program: Eating through the alphabet

Partners: Sinking Fork Elementary After-Care Program

Participants: Students of after-care

Proof of impact: TBD

During the summer of 2018, the after-care director for Sinking Fork Elementary School contacted me about providing a program to students that partake in the after-care program. She stated that they needed a program that would keep them active but would allow for students to leave throughout the program. Also, with the transition of SNAP-ED assistants in the county, they were no longer receiving nutrition programming. 

I worked with our Family and Consumer Sciences agent to develop a program that would encompass both nutrition and physical activity while being one hour in length. Eat through the alphabet program was developed. Twice a month, students would be exposed to a fruit or vegetable that began with the letter of the week which would be followed by a story then a DanceFit or other physical activity. In order to prevent any allergy issues, the coordinator advised on allergies that students had which resulted in no tree nut foods being served. 

In the fall of 2018, I met with the students on four occasions. The first meeting was to proctor a pre-test to the students followed by an introduction DanceFit. There were thirty-nine students in attendance. The following statements were asked of the students in which they were to raise their hand if they agreed with the statement.

·I make healthy lifestyle choices: twenty-five agreed.

·I feel good about myself: thirty-one agreed.

·I know how to handle stress: fourteen agreed.

·I can name one fruit or vegetable for every letter of the alphabet: twenty-four agreed.

·I think exercise can be fun: thirty-one agreed.

·I am willing to try fruits and vegetables that I know nothing about: twenty-two agreed.

·I do not engage in risky behavior: thirteen agreed.

At the end of the second nine weeks, the students were surveyed on their experience in the program to point. Twenty students indicated that they had tried one new fruit or vegetable. A post-test will be administered to students at the end of the school year in May 2019. 

As a result of the program and incorporating DanceFit into the nutrition program, all of the students are able to identify that they meet at least five of the twelve academic expectations of the Kentucky Common Core Standards: Practical Living- Psychomotor Skills.