For several years now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (Snap-Ed) Assistant has partnered with “Upward Bound”. This is a program that is offered to Eastern Kentucky high school students who are the first in their families to go to college. They are selected by the family resource center director of their high school and sent to Eastern Kentucky University for part of the summer. While in attendance, they select and attend classes, live in the dorms and eat in the cafeteria just like regular college students during a regular school year. This gives the high schooler’s a taste of college life and also prepares them for some of the challenges of independent living.

The students choose classes that will not only benefit independent life but also ones that are of interest to them. The Snap-Ed Assistant provides a four session eight hour nutrition and intermediate cooking class. Here the students learn proper measuring and baking, knife safety and sautéing, safe food handling and proper hand washing, meal planning, food budgeting, table setting and table etiquette. They also learn how to apply all the lessons they learn to dorm life, as they are only allowed to have microwaves in their dorm rooms. There were nine students who participated, showing improvement in all areas with an exceptional 89% improvement in Dietary Recommendations, and 89% improvement in food safety and a 78% improvement in Physical Activity.