Healthy Schools Campaign

Student Chefs Bring Healthy, Great-Tasting School Lunch to Congress, at Capitol Hill Briefing & House of Representatives Cafeteria

Student chefs Lashonda Livingston, Aljibri Reed, Henry Walton, Cari Smith and Jakaia Franklin prepare to present the healthy school lunch they designed at a briefing on Capitol Hill. March 2, 2010. Photos by Stacey Vaeth.

"I learned that change really can happen if we all help it along," said Cari Smith, a junior at Chicago's Tilden Career Community High School who traveled to Washington, DC this week to bring a healthy, great-tasting school lunch she and her team mates designed to Congress.

The students won first place in HSC's Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest with their meal of chicken-vegetable jambalaya, jalapeno cornbread and cucumber salad, a lunch that not only exceeds standards for nutrition but also impressed judges with its great taste, visual presentation and appeal to students.

On March 2, Cari and her classmate Aljibri Reed spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing on the future of school food alongside HSC founding executive director Rochelle Davis, Cooking up Change National Honorary Co-Chairs Karen Duncan (wife of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan) and Christie Vilsack (wife of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack), and Louise Esaian, logistics officer and head of school nutrition programs for Chicago Public Schools.

Students chefs Jakaia Franklin, Lashonda Livingston and Henry Walton also fielded questions. The whole team presented the meal at the briefing, which was organized by Healthy Schools Campaign and sponsored by the offices of Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Jan Schakowsky. The briefing and the award-winning lunch were the focus of a day of action urging Congress to authorize increased funding for better school food.

Nearly a hundred people crowded into the briefing room to get a taste of the students' tasty lunch and hear about the national movement for school food reform.

The award-winning lunch was served the same day in the House of Representatives Longworth cafeteria, where it was a huge hit: the cafeteria sold out of jambalaya, cornbread and cucumber salad. (When the lunch was served in Chicago public high schools on Jan. 29, it was so popular that the Tilden school cafeteria also ran out!)

"I learned that I can help change what we eat in schools -- at my school and across the country," Cari told advocates, members of Congress, staffers and media at the briefing.

This message is especially important as Congress begins the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the legislation that provides funding and sets standards for school food. The House of Representatives held its first hearing on reauthorization later in the day after the briefing. (And, we hope, after representatives enjoyed some healthy jambalaya in their cafeteria!)

The outcome of this reauthorization is vitally important to the millions of children who struggle with obesity, the teachers who know well-nourished children are better learners and the growing number of families who rely on the National School Lunch Program to provide nutritious meals to children.

Please join HSC and the student chefs of Tilden high school in speaking up for a robust and adequately funded Child Nutrition Act. Click here to take action.

And stay posted for more photos and video of the student chefs in DC!

Top Blog Entries from 2009!

It's been a great year for the HSC blog, and we're proud that our readers have continued to visit day after day for fresh content, lively discussion and valuable information on ensuring a healthy future for all children. To ring in the new year, we've compiled a list of our most popular blog entries from 2009. (Drum roll...)

10. More Reasons for Recess

9. Good Luck to Cooking up Change Students From White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass

8. Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization - Let's Do it Right

7. New White House Chef Support Healthy School Lunches

6. Do Healthy Eating Habits Start at Home?

5. Kids May Go Hungry to Avoid Stigma of Free Meals

4. The Lunch That's Changing the Future of School Food

3. Secretary Vilsack Connects Healthy Eating and Reduction in Health Care Costs

2. A Parents Perspective on Asthma: Talking with Michelle Obama

-And #1-

1. Students Bring Healthy School Lunch to DC and Cook with White House Chef Sam Kass

Honorable mentions:

• This is Not Your Father's School Nurse
• My First Garden Meal of the Summer
• H1N1 and Green Cleaning in Schools

Happy New Year from all of us at HSC -- We look forward to seeing you again in 2010!

A Healthy Day Starts in the Classroom with School Breakfast Programs

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

Kids at Chicago's Sandoval elementary school receive breakfast each day.

Our partners at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) recently released their annual report on the state of school breakfast in large urban school districts. The scorecard, which analyzes school breakfast participation in cities across the US, comes with a simple message:  more students are eating school breakfast than last year, but many more who could benefit from the program aren’t participating.

“Nationally, we’ve seen a real increase in breakfast participation among low-income children both because of the recession and because states generally have slowly been increasing breakfast use, but participation is just not growing fast enough,” said Jim Weill, FRAC president, in a press release about the report.

The report provides some context for these findings: “At a time when the nation is in a long and severe  recession, the School Breakfast Program is more indispensable than ever to maintain the health and well-being of low-income children. In 2008, nearly 16.7 million American children, or almost one in four, lived in food insecure households where their families faced a constant struggle against hunger.” (For more on these numbers and their relevance to school food, see our recent posts on the USDA’s 2009 food security report.)

We know that breakfast helps kids focus and do their best in the classroom and that schools can play a vital role in making sure kids have access to a healthy bite in the morning before classes begin.

That’s why we’ve been so impressed by efforts such as those in Chicago and Washington, D.C. public schools to provide universal breakfast in the classroom – a program that brings breakfast to all children, in their classrooms, before they begin their studies for the day. The program increases participation dramatically, takes away stigma and helps children learn that breakfast is part of a normal routine.

These programs also involve a certain level of logistical coordination to bring breakfast to each class, take away trash, and transition to the start of the day. And they are not without problems: critics have pointed out opportunities to improve the nutritional content of breakfast items served in the classroom, for example. 

But the benefits are huge: the report points out that the districts that were most successful in making sure kids had breakfast were the ones that served it in the classroom. FRAC also urges broader adoption of universal in-classroom programs like the ones in Chicago and D.C.. According the report: “The key strategy that urban school districts across the nation should adopt to expand breakfast participation among low-income students remains the adoption of universal classroom breakfast programs, especially in schools with high percentages of low-income students.”

Kudos to the school districts across the country doing their part to make sure all kids have a healthy start to their day.

Daylight, Gardens, Bouncy Chairs: The Role of Wellness in Healthy School Design

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

Here at HSC, we love it when wellness and sustainability meet – especially when the topics merge in discussions of an issue as exciting and promising as green schools. We’ve long advocated for further development of “healthy, high performing” schools – a term that covers both a school’s impact on the environment (often its energy efficiency) and its impact on student health and learning. Attributes such as well-designed ventilation system can make a school healthy and high-performing. So can daylighting or good acoustics.

Lately, we’ve started to have more conversations with our partners about how to integrate wellness into the ways we all think and talk about green schools.  How does a kitchen outfitted with the equipment to prepare healthy meals fit into our definition of a healthy school? What about adequate space for children to be physically active?

And perhaps most important: how does a school building that supports wellness shape student learning?

This question is at the heart of a new book (and related online community), The Third Teacher, which discusses the ways that the environment – in this case the built environment, the school facility – has a dramatic impact on student learning.

HSC board member Vince Iturralde, principal of Tarkington School of Excellence, a public elementary school on Chicago’s southwest side and the first LEED-certified green school in the city, eloquently explains the  benefits of a school building that supports learning and wellness in a Chicago Public Radio story exploring the subject:

Iturralde says one of the unique elements, is how Tarkington shares land and space with the park district.

 

That’s meant a larger gym, and a field where kids can play during recess. The Park District also offers pre-school and after-school programs that Tarkington kids attend.

 

ITURRALDE: Students need to be active. They keep the kids constantly busy. And when the kids are constantly busy, they stay out of trouble. And so violence goes down, crime goes down, and our students’ success rate goes up.

 

Principal Iturralde says teachers use the green features to highlight the school’s environmental focus. And the teachers voted to extend their day so the kids could have recess and run all over that grassy field.

 

ITURRALDE: It was the first LEED certified school in the city of Chicago, which had huge advantages that were unforeseen. It was amazing how many different things evolved from the building itself.

 

Like using the setting for hands-on lessons in the gardens, the field or even some unusual places.

The story also takes listeners to a school in nearby Barrington, where students spend their days in desks designed to allow movement throughout the day:

In this classroom in District 220 in Barrington, about half the class is literally bouncing up and down. One kid is sitting on a big gym ball modified to look like a chair. Other fourth-graders are in chairs with inflatable cushions on them. There’s a tall desk with a swing bar that a boy is kicking against over and over again.

You’d think it would be chaos.

 

Connie Simon says it’s just the opposite. Simon is an assistant superintendent here.
 
SIMON: It just is not a natural thing to make kids sit for six hours a day. This provides opportunities for children to be able to move in a natural way that learning still continues.

Simon points to students like Jaycee Carden who are moving in place, but still focused on their work.

 

JAYCEE:  I usually do better in the chair, like I can think quicker when I’m in this chair because I’m also getting a lot of energy out at the same time, so it helps me think a little more.

The Third Teacher spotlights ideas such as these – daylight, gardens, bouncy chairs – that are considered innovative for school design although they are often based on simple observations (“a lot of kids fidget”) as much as on new technologies. The ideas range from “#20: Make Peace with Fidgeting” to suggestions that teachers talk with students about how green technology works, using it as a learning tool.

Listen to the full story at the Chicago Public Radio website or read more of the ideas in The Third Teacher at www.thethirdteacher.com.

Counting and Jumping: Making Physical Activity a Regular Part of Classroom Learning

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

Those familiar with HSC’s Parents United for Healthy Schools coalition may remember Dolores Navarro, the kindergarten teacher at McCormick School who found ways to make physical activity a regular part of the daily routine in her classroom when she noticed the toll that childhood obesity and asthma were taking on her community.

She observed that even very young children were out of breath after climbing the stairs and decided that she could give them chances to be active all day.

“Looking at those little kids who have trouble breathing, trouble exercising – you just reach the point where you say: Stop! It’s got to stop,” she said.

Once she began thinking about it, she found countless ways to bring activity and healthy messages into the classroom.  “We can integrate the messages into math, with science,” she said. “We have to be more conscious of the information we are giving children.”

When HSC’s Parents United for Healthy Schools coordinator Jovita Flores dropped by McCormick School this week, she caught Ms. Navarro and her students in the act – jumping, waving their arms, and otherwise being active and creative during a lesson on numbers. The students happily jumped through different movements to match different sets of numbers, exercising their brains and their bodies at the same time.

“They are more open to doing work and finishing their tasks after they are physically active,” Ms. Navarro explained. “They have more energy. Their brains are more focused, more alert. Their brains are working – when they do math, they get through the problems quickly, just like that!”

Kudos to Ms. Navarro and her kindergarten math stars!

Inspiration, Teamwork and Award-Winning Cornbread: Getting to Know the Student Chefs of Tilden High School

 

Even before the student chefs of Tilden High School captured the first place trophy in HSC’s Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest, we heard one question travel from guest to guest throughout the evening: “Have you tried the cornbread?”

The team’s award-winning and extremely popular jalapeno cornbread, along with their chicken-vegetable jambalaya and cucumber salad, took top honors in the contest. The meal will be served throughout Chicago’s high schools on Jan. 27 and on Capitol Hill later in the year! Team members will travel to DC to meet with assistant White House chef Sam Kass and speak up about the need for healthy, tasty school food. 

What inspired this conversation-starting meal? We talked to some of the student chefs to get the scoop:

What did you learn from the healthy cooking contest?
“How to interact with very large crowds.”
–Aljibri Reed

What helped your team work well together?
“We believed that we were going to do it. We were dedicated and we are a family. Motivation.”
–Aljibri Reed

What gave your team the inspiration to win?
“The fact that our school has been getting so much bad press.  We wanted to do something to show everyone how great our school really is.”
—LaShonda Livingston

What is your favorite type of food to cook?
“Meatloaf.”
–Elyssa Ford

How did you come up with the idea for your winning recipe?
“We all came up with ideas to use for the final show.  But our mentor, Chef Hitchcock, helped us pick a final idea.”
—Cari Smith

What did you learn from the healthy cooking contest?
“I learned how to use my networking skills and team work and communication.”
–Cari Smith

What gave your team the inspiration to win?
“Faith and I wanted to go to DC.”
—Jakaia Franklin

What do you like best about being a chef?
“Creating new things. And I love to cook and eat.”
—Jakaia Franklin

What did you learn from the healthy cooking contest?
“You can have healthy food and it can be good food too.”
—Henry Walton

Congratulations to the Tilden team and all the student chefs!

The Winning Moment!

In the weeks since our Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest, we’ve heard again and again how much guests were overwhelmed by the student chefs -- not just with their talent but with their incredible energy, warmth and pride in sharing the healthy meals and cookies they created.  No matter how much we try to describe the students’ energy and grace, we can’t quite do it justice!

Check out this clip of the winning moment, when the student chefs of Tilden High School accepted their award:

The Tilden team's meal of Chicken Jambalaya with Jalapeno Cornbread and Cucumber Salad will be served in all Chicago public high schools on Jan. 27, 2010 and on Capitol Hill later in the year! Team members will travel to DC to meet with assistant White House chef Sam Kass and speak up about the need for healthy, tasty school food.

Congratulations to the winning student chefs!

Congratulations to the Winning Student Chefs at Cooking up Change!

Congratulations to all the amazing student chefs who participated in the Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest! All of the teams created tasty, healthy school meals that wowed judges and guests at the benefit. Even more remarkable: the teams met nutrition requirements while ordering from a set ingredient list and spending just about a dollar per meal for ingredients. And they did it with less than six weeks to prepare!

HSC is pleased to offer special congratulations to the winning teams:

School Lunch Awards

First place: Tilden Career Community High School

Chicken Jambalaya with Jalapeno Cornbread and Cucumber Salad

 

Second place: Richards Career Academy

Twice Baked Sheppard's Pie with Pub Salad and a side of Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Spice Sauce

Third place: Chicago Vocational Career Academy

Mom's Chicken Salad with Farmer's Market Vegetable Soup and Harvest Apple Crisp

Audience Choice Award

Corliss High School

Cranberry-Raisin-Walnut Cookie

Cookie-preneur Awards

Chicago Vocational Career Academy

Abracadabra Bars

 

Clemente Community Academy High School

Spiced Pumpkin Cookie

Corliss High School

Cranberry-Raisin-Walnut Cookie

Many thanks to all of the team mentors, judges and culinary instructors behind the cooking contest, and to all of the sponsors and host committee members who make Cooking up Change possible!

 

Support HSC by Shopping at Any Chicago Whole Foods Market on Tuesday, Sept. 22!

Tomorrow, Tuesday Sept. 22, you can make a difference for children’s health and our environment at the same time you get your groceries!

Five percent of the day’s sales at all Chicago Whole Foods Markets will be donated to Healthy Schools Campaign to support our work on behalf of our environment, our children and education.

HSC staff and some very talented student chefs from the Chicago Public Schools culinary arts program will be on hand at different points throughout the day with cooking demonstrations, healthy school lunch tastings, and opportunities to take action to change the future of school lunch. Be sure to drop by to see us at any of the participating locations:

South Loop 1101 S. Canal St. Lincoln Park 1550 N. Kingsbury St. Gold Coast 30 W. Huron St. Halsted & Waveland 3640 N. Halsted St. Lakeview 3300 N. Ashland Ave.

We hope to see you tomorrow at Whole Foods!

You can learn more online and invite your friends to join you at the market!

Through Your Lens Photos Open Window into Nation's School Buildings

What does a school look like?

Students from across the US have been answering that question with more clarity than we could have imagined when we launched the Through Your Lens Photo & Essay Contest several weeks ago.

With powerful images and vivid stories, students are giving us all a window into what our nation’s school buildings really look like. As the contest comes to a close, we’re working to bring many of these images to Congress, with an upcoming exhibit at the US Capitol and a book documenting the remarkable pictures and stories as our elected leaders debate legislation for school building maintenance and repair.

Here, we’ve excerpted a few of the many entries. You can find all of the photos and stories online at the Through Your Lens gallery.

Bullet Hole? by Kristen from Scotts Valley

Classroom Decor. by Caitlin from Aurora.

Fresh Fruit in a Land of Fast Food. by Susana from Los Angeles.

 

Art in the Bathroom. by Reid from Charlottesville.

If you would like to share any of these photos or stories with your Congressional leaders, be sure to visit the Through Your Lens action center to send a letter and link to the image!

Welcome, HSC Worms!

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

We were thrilled to see the news that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently signed SB99 into law, making it legal to compost commercially in Illinois and then transport the resulting mega-nutrient-rich compost to other states nationwide. Old laws restricting commercial composting -- and especially the transport of compost across state lines -- made it difficult for schools and many other institutions in Illinois to compost on any large scale.

HSC applauds Gov. Quinn and the legislators who made this sensible law a reality. As Kay McKeen, founder and executive director of SCARCE (School & Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education) says, "There are bills out there that are good for everyone and this is one of them." We look forward to seeing a resulting increase in composting around the state!

Here at HSC, we have been taking steps into the world of composting as well. HSC works with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to bring together the district's Environmental Action Plan Taskforce, a group of school and community leaders who make recommendations for putting the plan in action. One facet of this project involves exploring the feasibility of composting in schools. We've found that composting is one activity that brings so many benefits to a school community -- benefits for the environment, true hands-on experiences with biological sciences for students, and invaluable lessons in environmental stewardship for everyone involved.

To better understand what composting involves for a school, we decided to give it a try in our office. As our founding executive director Rochelle Davis explained, if everyone in our office can understand the challenges of composting first-hand, we'll be better able to help schools (with many more people) put programs into action.

With the help and encouragement of Kate Weinans, UIUC Extension Youth Program Organizer at the University of Illinois Extension program, we kicked off our very own Healthy Schools vermi-composting effort -- that is, the kind of composting that involves worms. Take a look at this video of the day we welcomed our squirmy, wriggly new suite mates to the office:

Through Your Lens Photo & Essay Contest: Show the World What YOU See at School

When you walk into a school, what do you see?

The truth is, it depends on what school you’re walking into. In some schools, you may see peeling paint or a broken window. In others, you may see a well-maintained classroom flooded with natural light. In some schools, you’ll see broken water fountains; in others, bright mosaics and murals.

In nearly every school, you’ll see things that make you proud and things you want to change.

Now, we’re asking you to help us show Congress – and the world – what our school buildings really look like.

HSC is pleased to launch the Through Your Lens photo and essay contest today with our partners at Critical Exposure and the 21st Century School Fund. From Aug 18 - Sept 14, you can submit photos and stories to highlight what’s great and what’s troubling about your school building.

Your photos and stories will help inform a national debate as Congress considers legislation for school building repair, modernization and construction.

Photos and stories will be shown at a special exhibition in Washington, DC (currently planned in the US Capitol Building) and many more entries will be published in a Through Your Lens book and in an online gallery. Five student winners will also receive a Vado pocket video camcorder from Creative Labs.

Please take a moment to show the world what you see at school every day.

Learn more and enter today at www.ThroughYourLens.org.

Want to help spread the word about this effort? Click here for a badge to put on your website and tools to help get the word out!

photo courtesy of Critical Exposure

photo courtesy of National Trust for Historic Preservation

What Do You Want to Ask Lisa Jackson, Head of the EPA, About Environmental Health in Schools?

Next Fri. July 31, HSC will welcome Administrator Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA, to a forum here in Chicago. We’re excited to hear Administrator Jackson’s thoughts on the role of the EPA in making sure school environments are safe and healthy. We’re also looking forward to hearing her perspective on the role of schools in our nation’s sustainability efforts.

But now we want to know: what do you want to ask Administrator Jackson about environmental health in schools?

This is such an important and far-reaching topic –- it encompasses everything from asthma and air quality to green building (and quite a bit in between) –- that we’re interested in hearing what issues are most important to you.

Please take a moment to share your questions in the comment field below!

If you’re in the area and would like to attend the forum, click here for an invitation. If not, stay posted for updates and video from the event!

Friday Morning Recipes: The Lunch That’s Changing the Future of School Food

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

We’ve been talking a lot this week about one amazing school lunch: the one designed by students at Chicago’s Richards Career Academy for our Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest last fall.

This is the meal that the students prepared on Tuesday with White House chef Sam Kass at a briefing in DC, the one that was served in the House of Representatives cafeteria and to more than 40,000 students in cafeterias around the US.

Now, courtesy of Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality and the award-winning culinary students, we’d like to share the tasty, healthy, one-of-a-kind lunch recipes with you!

Carrotquedilla

12 Tortillas (six-inch)                      
12 oz. Light Mozzarella Cheese       
12 oz. Raw Carrots, shredded              
1 ½ Tbsp. Adobo Seasoning
12 oz. Red Kidney Beans

1. Prepare 6 tortillas with 1 ounce of cheese, 1 oz of beans, and 2 tbsp of shredded carrots each.
2. Spray bottom of pan with cooking spray.
3. Place tortillas in pan and top with 6 more tortillas.
4. Turn over when the bottom of the tortilla is brown. Cook the other side of the tortilla until it is brown.
5. Remove from pan and cut each tortilla into 4 pieces.

Serving size: 2 pieces or ½ of quesadilla. Makes 12 portions.

--

Stuffed Peppers

6 medium Green Peppers, raw              
24 oz. Chicken Dark Meat, raw, no skin
1 Tbsp. Ground Cumin                  
5 cups Brown Rice, cooked
4 cups Water, boiling                      
16 oz. Diced Tomatoes
3 oz. American Cheese, shredded

1. Cook diced chicken, drain and add cumin.
2. Cook rice.
3. Combine 3 cups cooked chicken, 4 cups cooked brown rice, and 1 cup of salsa until well mixed.
4. Prepare peppers by cutting in half lengthwise, removing stems and ribs.
5. Fill each pepper half with 10 ounces of chicken & rice mixture. Place in hotel pan and add enough
    water to cover bottom of pan. Cover with parchment paper and aluminum foil.
6. Bake 35-40 minutes at 350°F.

Serving size: One half pepper, stuffed. Makes 12 portions.

--

Refrascante salad

2 medium Apples, raw, with skin           
2 medium Oranges, raw
2 Tbsp. Cucumber, raw, peeled, chopped       
1 Tbsp. Onions, raw
1 Tbsp. Cilantro, raw                   
1/8 Tsp. Table Salt
1/8 Tsp. Black Pepper               
2 oz. Orange Juice

1. Dice apple into medium pieces.
2. Peel orange and cucumber, and dice into medium pieces.
3. Dice onion into small pieces and chop cilantro. .
4. Combine all ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serving size: 4 oz. Makes 4 portions.

--

Enjoy!

Stacey Vaeth Photography

High School Students Bring Healthy School Lunch to DC – and Cook with White House Chef Sam Kass

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

Stacey Vaeth Photography

“When we created this recipe, we never dreamed that we would be able to share it with so many people,” said Rafael Ruiz, a Chicago high school student whose team developed the winning school lunch in HSC’s Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest: a tasty meal of stuffed green peppers, carrot quesadillas, and fresh refrescante salad.

On Tuesday May 5, more than 40,000 students across the US ate the healthy lunch in their school cafeterias; Congressional leaders and their staffers enjoyed the meal in the House of Representatives cafeteria; and at the same time, Ruiz and his teammates Alvaro Aguilar, Marquice Kent, Mike Martinez, Emmanuel Sandoval and Jose Tena prepared the lunch with White House chef Sam Kass at an HSC briefing on the future of school food.

Stacey Vaeth Photography

Kass, a longtime advocate for healthy food, worked side by side with the high school culinary students to prepare the refrescante fruit salsa salad while HSC founding executive director Rochelle Davis, CPS food service director Louise Esaian, Illinois State Board of Education chair Jesse Ruiz and high school student Rafael Ruiz addressed the need  for increased funding to make this type of healthy meal a daily reality in our nation’s schools.

The student chefs presented Kass with a Cooking up Change chef jacket like the ones they wore to the event – along with jackets for the President and First Lady. (Kass signed the students’ chef jackets and asked them to all sign his.) Kass talked with the students about cooking, culinary careers, and healthy food; the day before, he took them on a tour of the White House kitchen and the new White House garden that he helped Michelle Obama plant.

The tasty lunch and talented student chefs brought some great media attention to the movement for healthy school food: The Washington Post and CNN posted stories, and the Obama Foodorama blog covered the event with great detail and lots of photos.

We’re thrilled with the excitement of this wonderful event and so proud of the student chefs whose work is an inspiration to everyone who cares about getting good food in schools. Now, we hope to bring the excitement of this event to advocacy for healthy school meals.

This message is especially important in the weeks and months ahead as Congress begins to consider the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which essentially determines school food policy and resources.

More than 30 million children eat lunch at school every day and many kids who rely on the National School Lunch Program – those who are at risk of hunger, qualifying for free or reduced-price meals – are also facing skyrocketing rates of obesity and related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

Please join HSC in speaking up for a robust and adequately funded Child Nutrition Act. Click here to take action. 

And stay posted for more photos and video of the student chefs in DC!

Stacey Vaeth Photography

Changing the Future of School Food: Student Chefs in The Washington Post

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

Great news from Washington! Today, the healthy, tasty school meal designed by high school students from Richards Career Academy for HSC’s Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest was served in cafeterias around the nation and at a nearby briefing – where the students prepared the meal with White House chef Sam Kass.

The tasty meal kicks off a national campaign to change the future of school food and urge our Congressional leaders to support a strong, well-funded reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act that will make this type of healthy lunch a daily reality in our nation’s schools.

Jane Black wrote a great piece for the Washington Post about the student chefs, today’s event, and the campaign to get more money for better food in our nation’s school cafeterias. Explaining that HSC is “bringing good food and cute kids to Washington,” Black writes that:

Today six culinary students from the Richards Career Academy in Chicago will join White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass at Martha's Table, where they will cook their idea of a perfect school lunch. On the menu: carrot quesadillas, chicken-stuffed peppers and a "refrescante" (a.k.a. salsa) salad. The meal also will be served to House members and staffers at the Longworth Cafeteria and to 40,000 students at schools across the country. . . .

The message: Schools need more money to produce healthful meals.

President Obama has made healthful eating in schools a centerpiece of his domestic agenda. In his budget, he called for $1 billion to improve childhood nutrition programs.

Will Congress fork over the funds? That will ultimately be up to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee. The kids better hope he likes carrot quesadillas.

Click here to check out the full post and leave a comment congratulating the talented student chefs!

We'll post photos and video from the event as they're available -- for now, we have one small (and, sorry, slightly blurry) cell phone photo that a friend sent of the students cooking with Sam Kass while HSC's Rochelle Davis speaks.

Student Chefs Go to Washington!

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

This morning, the student chefs from Richards Career Academy who won first place in HSC’s Cooking up Change healthy cooking contest boarded a plane for Washington, DC, where they will prepare the meal with White House Chef Sam Kass. Tomorrow, May 5, the meal will be served to more than 40,000 students across the nation and in the US House of Representatives cafeteria. Many thanks to all who made donations to make the students' trip possible!

We had a chance to chat with the student chefs as they prepared for their trip; check out the video to hear about the meal they created and their excitement about the upcoming trip:

Please join us in wishing the student chefs a wonderful trip to Washington and in contacting our Congressional leaders to make sure they eat the student-designed school lunch!

Featured School Food Memory: Salisbury Steak Land

In this week’s featured entry in the Fresh Voices for Fresh Choices contest, Evan Miller takes a trip to Salisbury Steak Land. His drawing speaks for itself!

You can vote for Evan's entry on the contest website. (And while you're there, be sure to share your own memory!)

Want the bright, happy sun in Evan’s drawing to shine over all kids’ school food memories? One of the most concrete and time-sensitive ways that we can all raise our voices for good school food in the coming months is by supporting a strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. To learn more and add your name to a petition in support of healthy school meals, click here.

What is Your Most Vivid Memory of School Food?

by Tara Kennon, HSC communications manager

What is your most vivid memory of school food?

Put that memory into words, images or video, and you can win some delicious prizes for yourself and your school – while helping spread the word about efforts to make fresh, healthy school food the norm.

HSC and Applegate Farms are pleased to announce the Fresh Voices for Fresh Choices contest, open to contestants of all ages.

If you’re an adult, you can win a truly delicious Panini party package from Applegate Farms and T-fal – complete with a sandwich press and organic chocolates for dessert! If you’re a student, you can also win a healthy breakfast for your entire school – and the chance to see your artwork printed on more than 50,000 grab-n-go breakfast bags from Notables.

The contest is simple: participants express their most vivid school food memories in the media they like best, writing a few short lines, drawing a picture, taking a photo, or even crafting a video. (Want to sing a song or do a dance? That works! Just submit it as a video.)

When you share your memories, you’ll have a chance to win fabulous prizes while raising awareness of crucial school food issues.

The contest is part of HSC’s advocacy efforts surrounding the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, a major piece of federal legislation that helps determine school food policy and resources.

You can submit your entry through May 1, and voting will continue through May 15.

If you know any students who would like to enter -- or want to spread the word at your school -- you can download a flyer [pdf] to share.

Take a moment to enter the contest today!

HSC & Board Member Rob Rogers Featured in Chicago Tribune

by Tara Kennon, HSC Writer & Publications Coordinator

Rob Rogers, HSC board member and vice president of School Health Corp., is featured in a recent Chicago Tribune article for his work with HSC to promote wellness in schools. The story focuses on ways that entrepreneurs are getting involved in the work of improving student nutrition and fitness:

"It drives me crazy when I see chicken fingers and french fries on the lunch menu," said Robert Rogers, executive vice president of the 100-employee firm.

That's why Rogers is cutting back on his corporate duties next year to spend more time working pro bono for the Healthy Schools Campaign, a Chicago-based not-for-profit. As a board member, he spends about one day a month working with the group.

In addition, School Health has contributed $35,000 over the past two years to the group, and Robert was part of a team that ran in the Chicago Marathon on behalf of the organization, together raising about $30,000.

The company's latest project is sponsoring "The Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness," available online at HealthySchoolsCampaign.org, offering tips on fitness and nutrition.

School Health's mission is closely aligned with that of the not-for-profit, said company President Susan Rogers.

"It makes you feel good to do something for a non-profit when you're on the same page and have the same mission," she said. "We believe a healthy child learns better."

We’re thrilled to see Rob and Susan’s leadership and dedication to school wellness recognized in the Tribune, and hope that more entrepreneurs will join in the effort to promote nutrition and fitness at school.

Plus: You can access The Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness – sponsored by School Health Corp. – free of charge online at www.healthyschoolscampaign.org/wellness.