Partnering with McBrayer Elementary for Youth Nutrition Education

Kentucky State University set up a partnership with McBrayer Elementary School 4^th grade class in January to increase nutrition and health information access for at-risk children. According to CDC.GOV, obesity affects one in five children in the United States. In Rowan County, kentuckyhealthfacts.org reports an adult obesity rate of 36%.  Obesity puts children and adolescents at risk for overall poor health and it at an all-time high. To help battle obesity, KSU SNAP-ED set up classes for children. SNAP-Ed utilized the “Professor Popcorn.” Curriculum.  These are courses that include classes about Nutrition, Food Groups, Food Safety, and the importance of being active. The students especially loved to learn new things. Students were quite surprised by how much sugar they were consuming as they learned to read and understand food labels. Some students even said “I will start reading the label, I never knew how much my favorite things were so bad!” They also enjoyed new easy exercises they could not only do at home but involve the whole family which is one step closer to preventing obesity and other related chronic illness that go with it. The last class was not completed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but everything they had learned could be put to good use at home. We believe that by reaching and teaching youth about nutrition issues at an early age, they will influence their families as well as change their own eating habits to reduce adult health risks in the next generation.