The Super Star Chef program is provided by the University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program and gives youth in many different counties an opportunity to attend a three-day program to learn basics of cooking, nutrition and fun! There was a pre and post evaluation to see what was learned over the course of the three days and comparisons of participant responses to the assessment instrument show that the program enhanced participant understanding of the nutrition concepts covered in the program. Average total score on the test increased from 10.39 in the pretest to 13.33 in the posttest (out of a maximum of 15).  

The pre-posttest also included seven items that measured the youths cooking selfefficacy. Responses to these seven items were summed to create a cooking self-efficacy score. Pre-post analysis showed that participants’ cooking self-efficacy increased from 25.82 in the pretest to 30.41 in the Aiden (above) learning and practicing knife skills  Making salsa to learn canning procedures posttest (out of a maximum of 32). The posttest also included eight (8) sel fassessment of learning gains items. These items asked the participants to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed that they learned the concepts described in each statement.  All the respondents (100%) agreed/strongly agreed that they learned about how to wash their hands to remove germs; learned the correct way to hold a knife for cutting; learned how to measure ingredients; and learned how to read recipes. All but one of the respondents (94%) learned about the amount of fruits and vegetables they should have on their plates; learned about how germs can be transferred to food; and learned how to read nutrition labels. Also, all but two of the respondents (89%) plan to eat more fruits and vegetables after participating in the program.  

This program was such a great success a cooking club became high priority for Nicholas County. The youth wanted to continue on with skill building and learning that our council made it a priority to find a cooking club leader for Nichoals County. With the help of our volunteers we had a mother and daughter take intrest and volunteer to teach our cooking club once a month. The club met seven times and had 18 youth enrolled in the club. Our cooking club will continue on starting September 2019.