Learning about good nutrition and self-care is as important for students’ lives as learning how to read and write. That’s why the Nutrition Education Program at Marshall University has been working with kindergarten through second grade classrooms this school year to help them get a healthy start.

“Over the last several years, we’ve seen obesity become an epidemic nationwide,” says Tim Bender, RD, LD and Director of the Marshall University Nutrition Education Program. “We want to give kids a chance to think about the impact obesity can have on their lives and to give them steps they can take to help establish a healthier generation.”

During the nine-week program, 8 graduate students, 2 graduate assistants, and 2 nutrition educators visit mainly Title I schools where they conduct 30-minute classroom sessions per week. At these sessions, students take part in a lesson about nutrition where they are shown how to prepare a healthy meal. Every lesson also includes a taste-testing, which Bender says is pretty popular with students.

“The students are really receiving our program well and we are getting very positive feedback from teachers and families,” says Bender. “Our approach is to create a fun opportunity for behavior change. We hope to accomplish that by teaching them about the importance of good nutrition to feeling good and also the role engaging in regular physical activity plays in a healthy lifestyle.”

This year, the Nutrition Education Program is being offered at Hite Saunders, Highlawn, Guyandotte, and Cox Landing elementary schools and at Enslow Middle School. Bender says he hopes to expand the program to Altizer, Spring Hill, Central City, and Peyton elementary schools and to Huntington Middle School in the near future. In addition to Cabell County schools, the Nutrition Education Program is also being conducted at several schools in Mason, Wayne, and Kanawha counties.

Bender says school-wide assemblies are also in the works. The assemblies would incorporate puppets, music, and other fun elements to get the healthy lifestyle message out.

The Marshall University Nutrition Education Program is also working with the West Virginia Family Nutrition Programs, including the WVU Extension Service, and the American Dairy Association to develop additional assemblies at several schools. These assemblies, which will also focus on healthy lifestyles, are tentatively scheduled to begin after the first of the year and will utilize foods currently being provided to schools by the West Virginia Department of Education’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

For more information, please contact Tim Bender at Marshall University by calling (304) 638-7984.