According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one third of in the US are overweight or obese. Data in 2017 for Kentucky shows the obesity rate for children ages 10-17 was nearly 20%, placing Kentucky at third highest in the nation for childhood obesity rates in this age group. This is a concerning statistic and the Clark County Extension Council recognized this concern, encouraging the Extension office to implement programming that targeted this issue.

There are many factors that contribute to childhood obesity, including reduced physical activity and access/understanding of appropriate nutrition choices. Recent research has indicated that teaching cooking skills to children encourages healthier food choices, which can lower obesity rates. In an effort to address these concerns, the Clark County Family and Consumer Sciences and 4-H Youth Development Agents presented the Super Star Chef program, a three day camp for students aged nine through twelve years old. This program was designed to teach kitchen safety, food safety, nutrition concepts, and physical activity. In addition, the students practiced food preparation skills with supervision. As this was a summer program, school FRC’s advertised the program

The program was implemented in July of 2019 and had 20 participants, though only 19 participated in data collection.  Overall, pre-post comparisons of participant responses to the assessment instrument showed that the program enhanced participant understanding of the nutrition concepts covered in the program. After participating in the SSC program, all of the respondents (100%) reported that they can identify healthy foods. Also, all but one respondent (94.7%) reported that they plan to eat more fruits and vegetables. The participants also showed an increase in cooking self-efficacy. Several parents talked about how the participants wanted to help with dinner or show off the skills they had learned in the camp that day. A parent even contacted the FCS agent 6 months after the camp to say that her daughter makes breakfast for the family every morning and refers to her Super Star Chef skills and guidebook all the time as she explores more in the kitchen.