Wild Cat Roar

According to State of Childhood Obesity in 2017-2018, 20.8% of children between the ages of 10 and 17 are considered obese. EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) assistant partnered alongside Ben Johnson Elementary School to promote a healthier lifestyle within the classroom which would hopefully also carry into families homes.

 In order to achieve this goal, EFNEP assistant taught My Plate every Wednesday consecutively for 6 weeks. My Plate instructs children on how to differentiate between the 5 food groups. And the important role each food group plays in the body. Not only that, My Plate also encourages 60 minutes of physical activity. The group of 24 youth also received a sample of nutritious food/healthy snack with each lesson, recipes were also sent home. Physical reinforcement items such as jump ropes and footballs were also given out to each child. 

In conclusion, 83% of the children had an improvement in identifying dairy, 71% improvement in vegetables and healthy snacks. Not only that, 75% had an increase of being more active. The kids returned each week with encouraging news of a healthier lifestyle, “I played football with my brother in outside”, “me and mom made that awesome smoothie”, and “I tried a new vegetable”!