According to the 2017 – 2018 State of Obesity, Kentucky is ranked third in the country for children. With the world of electronics, children’s physical activity levels have dropped. Therefore, children are not burning the calories needed to maintain a healthy weight.

In an effort to modify this, the EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) assistant partnered with Ekron Elementary to conduct a six-week Professor Popcorn Program with two classrooms of second graders totaling forty-four students. This program is designed to educate students on nutrition and promotes physical activity within each session. The EFNEP assistant lead at least twenty minutes of physical activity with the students at each session. The students learned the importance of increasing their heart rate within their physical activity.

As a result of the program, 100% of the students understand what physical activity entails. The students improved their knowledge of the importance of hand washing by 72%. Also, their awareness of the five food groups rose to 82%. Each week the students were excited to tell the assistant about their physical activity throughout the week. Some of the students mentioned that their family visited our county’s nature trail for the first time!