Schools will use the money to launch produce stands, plant fruit and vegetable gardens or implement special snack programs to provide more fresh fruits and vegetables to students free of charge during the school day. Other ideas include hosting fruit and vegetable fairs, cooking demonstrations and field trips to local fruit and vegetable farms.
Texas schools applied for funding by submitting detailed proposals on how they plan to creatively put fresh fruit and vegetables into the hands of students. The program was open to elementary, middle and high schools across the state. When making the selections, the Texas Department of Agriculture considered school enrollment and geographic location to ensure selected schools represent a diversity of Texas schoolchildren.
“This project takes healthy eating to new heights by creating exciting new ways to introduce fresh produce to students,” Combs said. “This funding allows schools to offer their students – free of charge – a variety of fruits and vegetables that their current foodservice budgets may not be able to provide.”
The following 24 schools received funding through the program:
Bowie Elementary School, Abilene ISD, Abilene, $44,625: The school will kick off each semester with a special fruit and vegetable fair where students can enjoy fresh fruit snacks and vegetable trays with an array of healthy dips and dressings. Posters with the theme “Color Your World – Fresh Fruits and Vegetables – A Rainbow of Flavor” will be displayed throughout the school highlighting produce origins, nutritional facts and healthy ways to serve produce.
Fletcher Elementary School, Beaumont ISD, Beaumont, $49,073: Food service personnel and volunteers will deliver fresh produce to each classroom in the morning, and teachers will coordinate the distribution. Students will operate a produce stand in the school, where their classmates can pick up an extra item. A 60-second “nutrition minute,” written by students as an English or literature project, will be delivered during the morning announcements.
Miller Heights Elementary School, Belton ISD, Belton, $30,529: The school will provide daily fruit and vegetable snacks to students in their classrooms and at student events. Students also will plant a vegetable and fruit garden and will harvest, cook and serve the vegetables at a school-wide event. The school will host evening student events including a cooking class using fresh garlic and spices.
Canutillo Elementary School, Canutillo ISD, Canutillo, $59,927: School officials will use the grant to offer additional fresh fruits or vegetables. Special snacks and nutrition presentations will be set up outside the cafeteria during non-meal times. The school will publicize the program in both Spanish and English through newspapers, school newsletters, flyers and letters to parents.
Como-Pickton School, Como-Pickton ISD, Como, $58,646: Fresh produce will be offered during the day to complement lessons on healthy eating habits. Kindergarten students also will have a mid-afternoon snack in their classrooms. The school will promote the program with information on the school’s Web site, messages in student report cards, morning principal announcements and parent and student surveys.
Wilma Magee Intermediate School, Calallen ISD, Corpus Christi, $49,600: The school will offer cups of frozen grapes, chilled melon and other fruits to students as they line up after PE class or recess. Fruit smoothies will be used once a week as part of math education, and bowls of fresh fruit will be placed in classrooms and in the school cafeteria. Fruits and vegetables with unusual textures, colors and shapes will be incorporated into lessons on proper nutrition.
Irma Lerma Rangel Leadership School, Dallas ISD, Dallas, $16,056: Fruits and vegetables will be provided as individual servings and delivered to the classrooms. The school will implement Fruit and Vegetable of the Day adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and incorporate CDC nutrition educational material into the program.
Obadiah Knight Elementary School, Dallas ISD, Dallas, $60,078: Foodservice personnel and volunteers will prepare and deliver fruit and vegetable snack trays to classrooms twice a week for either a morning or afternoon snack. Fruit or vegetable snacks will be available to all students during state and district testing days and to students participating in the after-school tutoring program and an after-school childcare program.
Temple Elementary School, Doboll ISD, Diboll, $44,324: Using the theme of “Thank Goodness It’s Fruit & Vegetable Day,” the school will conduct a weekly fruit and vegetable sampling for about 280 third and fourth graders at the end of PE classes. The school’s bookmobile will have produce snacks for students. The school will also hold a Fruit and Vegetable Fair in coordination with other parent and student events during the school year.
Worsham Elementary School, Aldine ISD, Houston, $63,169: Using the 2006 Winter Olympics as a theme, the school will have kiosks connecting fruits and vegetables with a particular Olympic activity. Fresh produce will be distributed during PE classes to emphasize the importance of healthy eating and activity. A Wellness Team will provide staff development, and the child nutrition manager will host Parent and Student Involvement Days.
Westfield High School, Spring ISD, Houston, $330,015: Bowls of fresh produce will be in each classroom for the students, and produce will be offered at athletic events. Fruits and vegetables will be offered during all standardized tests. The school will have special promotions that include early American fruits and vegetables served at Thanksgiving, myths and legends, recipe contests and table decorations using produce.
Sundown Elementary School, Katy ISD, Katy, $57,515: Teachers may choose a fruit or vegetable for a morning and afternoon snack for their class, and a basket of fresh produce will be placed by the school front office to encourage consumption of fresh produce and to promote learning about the healthy benefits of fruits and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable tasting events will be conducted, and fruits and vegetables will be incorporated into the spelling and language curriculum.
Lake Worth High School, Lake Worth ISD, Lake Worth, $48,997: The school will weave fresh fruits and vegetables into students’ days by having a special table in the cafeteria highlighting the fruit or vegetable of the day and by providing fresh fruits to students before tests. The school also will incorporate international elements into the program, such as hosting a cooking demonstration of Chinese vegetable dumplings.
Littlefield Primary School, Littlefield ISD, Littlefield, $33,092: The school will conduct field trips to local farms to encourage healthy eating habits. The school foodservice will provide students a weekly “blackout card” listing the different produce items served during the week. Once the car is blacked out, the student will be recognized with an I’m Eating Healthy certificate.
Marfa Elementary School, Marfa ISD, Marfa, $17,714: The school will expand its focus on healthy eating by increasing produce accessibility to students and by boosting nutrition education in the classroom. Fruits and vegetables will be distributed in the classroom during special activities, before and after school and at school-sponsored events and athletics. Foodservice staff will showcase their knowledge of healthy eating by giving special nutrition presentations.
Seven Hills Elementary School, Northwest ISD, Newark, $31,961: The school not only plans to offer fruits and vegetable, but also to educate students, parents and faculty on the benefits of making positive nutritional choices. This rural elementary school plans to provide fruits and vegetable through the cafeteria, kiosks and personal deliveries to the classrooms. The district’s chef will create recipes using seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Nixon-Smiley Elementary School, $30,378; Nixon-Smiley Middle School, $23,594; Nixon-Smiley High School, $21,107; Nixon-Smiley CISD, Nixon: All three schools in the Nixon-Smiley Consolidated School District were selected for the program. At all three, fruits and vegetables will be available “on demand” from the time the students arrive at school in the morning until they leave the individual campuses in the evening. Self-serve display cases will be set up where students can grab a portable, nutritious snack. Each school plans to integrate the program into the school’s curriculum such as reading food labels, the math involved in burning calories and the geography of the state’s produce regions.
Central Elementary School, Palacios ISD, Palacios, $41,384: The school will provide additional produce during breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria as well as at after school at tutorial sessions, at meetings of school organizations and at the Boys and Girls Club. The school will promote healthy eating by setting up a health bar in the cafeteria with various selection of fruits and vegetables available at breakfast, lunch or after school.
Valley View North Elementary School, Valley View ISD, Pharr, $53,671: Fresh produce will be distributed at school special events and district wide student events such as family night and health fairs. The school will partner with local grocery stores and vendors such as a local watermelon supplier who will supply educational materials and fresh fruit.
Morrill Elementary School, Harlandale ISD, San Antonio, $41,535: Two to three times a week, the school will be adding additional fresh fruit in the cafeteria and classrooms for pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. Fruits and vegetables will be distributed on TAKS test days and on career days along with a health message.
Splendora Junior High School, Splendora ISD, Splendora, $40,253: The school will launch a produce stand called Willie’s Wildcat Fruit Shack to distribute fresh fruit to seventh- and eighth-graders five days a week. The produce stand also will be open during special student events and athletic functions after school hours. Healthy message displays and educational materials will be showcased at the stand, and the stand will be used as a tool for teaching nutrition education.
West Texas Elementary School, Plemons-Stinnett-Phillips CISD, Stinnett, $22,086: The school will send every student home with a nutritious fruit or vegetable snack as a healthy alternative to junk food. The school will target the after-school tutorial program, which addresses the needs of at-risk students. Produce also will be distributed at class projects or events touting the healthy benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables.
TDA is the state administrator for the school meals program in Texas. Details on the school meal programs and TDA’s Square Meals initiative are available at www.squaremeals.org. For more information contact TDA toll free at (888) TEX-KIDS or send an e-mail to squaremeals@agr.state.tx.us.