I suppose I've been working to create a framework, numerous partnerships, logistical know-how, and appropriate expectations since I began working here. I will always thoroughly enjoy the classroom and implementing classroom activities but I believe in order to provide the kind of programming necessary to change the food environment that frustrates so many of us, we must challenge young people to become active participants rather than passive participants. I once believed students and I could so this work from the classroom and effect change, but now I see the work must be done outside in the real-world where the full context of what these young people are doing can be appreciated.
As a nutrition educator now, I walk into classrooms and pontificate about healthy diets and the students' eyes glaze over. But if you want to see young people ready and willing to work on their Nutrition and the health of their community challenge them to walk rather than to talk. In the numerous cases where I implemented cafeteria tastings, cooking clubs, or some other opportunities for young people to act as leaders, they responded with passion and enthusiasm. To that point they were no longer passive but active with their own education.
Agreements must be cultivated between traditional and nontraditional partners so that our young people can have the power their agency requires. They have the desire, they just need to be met with opportunities to practice cooking nutritious dishes and reaching out into the community to advocate for their own health and the health of their families and friends. Once they have this opportunity to be creative and fight for their right to good food, the effects will be more than measurable.
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