Another success story

One of the speaker's at the March 6 Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Child Nutrition and the School Setting was Teresa Nece, director of Food and Nutrition at the Des Moines Public Schools. She had quite a lot to say about the fruit and vegetable program, and all of it was good.
Some excerpts from her testimony, which can be accessed here:

Our students have definitely enjoyed the experience of not only eating familiar items such as carrots, apples, and oranges, but also trying new fresh fruits and vegetables. Even some of our teachers have experienced tasting fruits and vegetables for the first time. Some of the new favorites are fresh pears, fresh berries, jicama, fresh pineapple and the large variety of apples now available.

One of our first learning experiences in a middle school was offering fresh Bartlett pears as a choice in the classrooms. We discovered that these 6th, 7th and 8th grade students thought fresh pears were white, soft, and sliced. Many of the students had never seen or tasted a whole fresh pear. Classroom teachers discovered that they had many teachable moments with the fresh fruits and vegetables; they embraced the program and encouraged their students to try the new foods each day. What more could we ask of our teachers.

The students even tell their younger brothers and sisters about the fruits and vegetables they will get to eat when they go to Harding Middle School next year. The parents have told us that their students look forward to the fresh fruits and vegetables at school and ask for fresh fruits and vegetables at home. We have had parents tell us about shopping at the grocery store and children requesting that the parent buy for the family the same type of fruit that they had at school that week.

The teachers and principals in the schools have stated many times one of the unexpected benefits to the program is the opportunity for students and teachers to talk about something in the classroom other than just the academics.


TK: This is a great endorsement of the program. I think one of the best things about the fruit and vegetable snack program is the sense of wonder about new varieties and tastes, and the fact that it is free to all students in participating schools. That's got to have kids feeling "cared for." The last point Nece made was strong, too. The program can be a point of discussion and education for both students and teachers.