Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Now Playing: Happy National Registered Dietitian Day

Now Playing: Happy National Registered Dietitian Day


For National Dietitians Day I thought it would be nice to celebrate a Community Nutrition graduate who is working to improve school nutrition and student nutrition knowledge here in Kentucky. Austin Dacci, the nutrition coordinator and school liaison for Harrison County school, has recently piloted a program to encourage middle and high school students to eat breakfast. 

 Noticing that the numbers for breakfast were low, with as few as  130 of the 1,000 high school student body, and 105 of 700 middle students participating in the school breakfast program, despite the district having a 57% free/reduced lunch rate, Austin conducted a student survey. The results showed that most students were skipping breakfast in favor of socializing before classes began. It became apparent that there needed to be a way to socialize while still fueling up for the day.

Austin's solution? Breakfast Grab-n-Go! This past week a trail went ahead with the following menu:
  • Monday: Whole grain biscuit and low fat/ low sodium gravy in a bowl
  • Tuesday: Yoghurt and berry parfait
  • Wednesday: Egg, cheese an turkey English muffin
  • Thursday: Mini pancake bites
  • Friday: PB & J wrap with rice cereal for crunch
I followed up with Austin after the trail week was completed, and was pleased to hear that the high school saw a 15% increase in breakfast participation, and 10% increase in the middle school. These numbers should help support this pilot program becoming a regular thing, and as the word gets out, we hope these numbers will continue to grow.

Ensuring the students of his district are encouraged to eat breakfast, and hopefully learn to recognize the importance of this first meal is not Austins only project this month.National Nutrition Month shares March with another great cause - Read Across America Day. Austin participated by reading nutrition themed books with his students.

Austin is also incorporating nutrition into everyday classroom lesson plans. For example, fractions is math core academic requirement for all Kentucky third grade students. But instead of using scissors to cut out paper circles into various slices, the 3rd graders of Harrison County will be rolling pizza cutters. "We will be learning fractions, all while making home made pizzas," said Austin. "I know its not super healthy, but it does teach them measuring, portion control, and family consumer sciences." And perhaps more importantly, it teaches students cooking skills that they will be able to utilities for a lifetime.

One Half is the same as Three Sixths


Austin is doing a great job of integrating the many facets of dietetics into the school environment, from the cafeteria to the classroom. I hope that many other dietitians involved in school food services follow in his footsteps!



Sources: Austin Dacci 
Trying grab-n-go breakfasts to bolster student productivity


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by E Pace at 8:39 AM |

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