This summer, I chatted with a six-grader girl that attended my Rookie Cooking Camp last year. Rookie Cooking Camp is a signature program of Kentucky State University. It is a 3 to 5-day program that goes to schools or places where kids are for summer time and teaches them skills such as knife skills, meal planning, label reading, meal etiquette, utilizing farmers market, and shopping skills Each day, participants prepare their own meals. We often have a field trip such as Kroger, Moonlight Meat Processing and IGA. This program also reaches out to the community bringing guess speakers like a local chef, business owners, food safety specialist, and personal trainers. Also, the last activity includes hosting a guest, (usually a caregiver) and cooking a complete meal for them. The kids show off their skills, and at the same time, we engage those that are in charge of the household to help the kids with their skill after they leave the camp. 

My young friend wanted to know when I was offering another camp at her school. I shared with her that I was working with another school this summer. Her father approached me while we were talking and explained to me how the dynamics of the household has changed since his daughter’s attendance at Rookie Cooking Camp. Since the student’s participation in the camp, the family now eats at home more frequently and they cook it together! What used to be a “frozen dinner family”, has transformed into a family actually preparing and eating “real food” together.  They also expressed appreciation for the reinforcement items that the participant received at camp. 

It is always amazed me how much impact we have in the life of people, and how programs that are more “hands-on”-especially with cooking skills are more successful in the long term than those that are just academics. People learn in some many different ways and our programs offer learning in each way in order to try to appeal and reach participants with their best learning language. This story is not unique. Living in a small town, you frequently talk to parents out in the community, but because we live in a county with a high rate of children that are obese, overweight, and suffer from other chronic diseases due to health and wellness such as diabetes, this story is more relevant than ever. What this sixth grader reinforced in my mind is that this program is promoting long term change within the whole family.  By teaching one, a whole family has changed their dynamics when comes to preparing food. One big step. 

In Whitley County, we have put together a program that requires tremendous partnership. We have collaborated with community leaders, business owners, local schools, Health Corps, and Berea College Partners for Education.

 8th grader flipping savory pancakes.

Field
The field trip, Kroger in Corbin, reading labels and budgeting