Through a collaboration between the Owsley County Extension Service and the Owsley County School system, a nutrition curriculum is taught to students in grades Kindergarten through 6^th grade.  All students that attend Owsley County Schools qualify for free or reduced lunch.  The curriculum is Professor Popcorn, it covers nutrition topics as well as food safety, and physical activity is also covered.  Lessons with 6^th grade students begin to explore the benefits of different vitamins that a person needs to be healthy. 

  Each lesson breaks down the food groups and explains to the students the importance of vitamins and also how eating a rainbow of colors in your fruits and vegetables provides you with different vitamins.  Along with the lessons a healthy snack is also provided to the students to sample.  The class usually gets to try a My Plate sampler snack, a pre-packaged snack containing at least one item from each food group is given.  The students are asked if all five food groups are represented.  The snack consists of a vegetable, fruit, grain, dairy and a protein.   

  When asked to identify if all food groups are represented, the participants are usually quick to say that a protein isn’t included.  It is then pointed out that the dairy can count as two food groups, cheese can be a protein and a dairy.  The participants confess that they hadn’t thought about it being from two food groups.  In general this leads to lesson being taught on the benefits of different vitamins and how they help our bodies in different ways.  

  One student remarked that he thought he was only getting the vitamins from the dairy part of the snack and was surprised when he realized he was benefiting from protein as well. He also stated that he would have to pay closer attention to the foods he was eating in order to make sure he was getting the benefits of all the needed vitamins to become a healthier person.