6 • OCTOBER 2017
CVSD steps up to plate with healthy nutrition program By Julie Humphreys
Splash Correspondent Health advocates have been promoting the “eat right and exercise” message in earnest to school children for well over a decade. In the Central Valley School District (CVSD), a friendly dog named “Captain Canine” is leading the charge and he’s managed to get students to adopt some healthy habits. In fact, Captain Canine led two elementary schools to a prestigious Healthy U.S. School Challenge award. Last school year, Progress Elementary received a silver award and University was awarded a bronze for their “Smarter Lunchrooms” approach. They are the first schools in the surrounding Spokane area to receive the award since new guidelines put a focus on smarter lunchrooms and whole school wellness. Both honors were announced in May. “The awards are pretty significant” says Raeann Ducar, registered dietitian with Washington State University Spokane County Extension’s Food Sense program, which collaborates with the school district to implement overall school wellness. “We are looking at a culture of school wellness that includes teachers presenting nutrition education information in the classroom, P.E. teachers tying the healthy eating message into physical activity and an overall school philosophy around healthy celebrations and fundraisers,” Ducar said. “So instead of selling
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candy bars to raise money for school projects, children might get pledges for how many times they can run around a track.”
Captain Canine is the superhero created by Food Sense and CVSD as a character that could resonate with students. Three elementary schools targeted for Smarter Lunchrooms – Progress, University and Summit – took part in a contest to name the caped canine. A lifesized cutout of Captain Canine was eventually featured in each lunchroom and kids were on the lookout for his daily healthy eating messages. Denise Kwate, Nutrition Services supervisor for the district, says Captain Canine is just one resource to encourage children to establish better health. “He helps nudge children into making healthier choices with small nudges,” she said. “The goal is to make the healthy choice the easy choice.” Aside from Captain Canine’s messages and the paw print notes he writes to children with shoutouts like “I tried the asparagus,” Smarter Lunchrooms include simple steps to help students be intentional about healthy eating. Existing school wellness policies give Smarter Lunchrooms a good launching point. Salad bars offer six different fruits and vegetables, of which five are fresh. Through Smarter Lunchrooms, students are encouraged to take and eat at least three types of produce. Is it working? Kwate says studies looking at how much food was left on students’ plates were done prior to implementing Smarter Lunchrooms. Studies of food waste at the end of the program this past school year showed fewer fruits and vegetables remaining on plates. “We also saw that we needed to order more fruits and veggies at
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bonus. Progress received $1,000 for the silver award and University $500 for the bronze. University put the money toward nutrition education. Progress used it to fund a six- week cooking class teaching students to create dishes from basic recipes. At the end of the class they cooked for their parents. “You’ve got 24 fifth graders getting a hands-on cooking experience and being excited about being a chef,” Kwate said. “We talk about fiber and we talk about soda so they get nutrition education.”
A mascot named “Captain Canine” is helping get the word out about healthy nutrition in the Central Valley School District. Progress and University elementary schools were honored in May with the Healthy U.S. School Challenge award for their “Smarter Lunchroom” program. Contributed photo the three participating schools, so we suspect more kids took them,” added Kwate. Another simple step to encourage children to makes healthy choices is placing plain milk at the front of the lunch line in a cute container, with chocolate and strawberry milk further down. School lunchroom staff also encourages students to take the healthier of two hot entrees offered. For example, crispy chicken pita might be on the menu along with pizza. Staff pushes the whole wheat pita with grilled chicken, lettuce and a little cheese over the higher calorie pizza. Staff may share with students that they have tried the pita and relay what they liked about it. The awards include a nice cash
WSU’s Food Sense program focuses on childhood obesity. Smarter Lunchrooms is one part of the equation aimed at impacting rising obesity rates. The Centers for Disease Control report that today about one-in-five school-aged children is obese. Ducar says data on the impact of school wellness programs on obesity rates at area schools is not great, but there are definitely markers that indicate programs like Smarter Lunchrooms are making a difference. “Kids are going home and telling parents what they are learning and experiencing about healthy habits,” Ducar says. “Hopefully, they are also impacting what foods parents bring into the home. By the time they are sixth graders, they’ve heard the message and they’ve had the opportunity to taste and try new thing.” Ducar adds that the approach is bringing awareness to the benefits of local food. “I’m especially excited that we’ve been able to promote local harvest,” she said. “Kids understand the value of good foods harvested right in their backyard.” While continued grant funding for Smarter Lunchrooms is uncertain, CVSD plans to continue and hopefully grow healthy eating concepts in the 2017-18 school year.