Fall is Coming

As the fall approaches I must be sure of what exactly I'll need to do to implement the youth advocacy programming with or without my company's help. Assuming that no funding will come around in time, I'll need to begin a cooking club as soon as permission is granted. With the cooking club, I will plan to arrange with the Home-to-school association a "catered meeting" featuring student cooks. This opportunity to perform for an audience, and potentially parents, will give me the chance to introduce parents to the idea of extended cooking lessons that will feature more cooking skill building, food safety, nutrition education, and leadership skill building. I'll need a time, a place, and additional information on the proposed program with contact information.

Individual versus Collective

The format of our nutrition education is lacking to the point where we cannot address the issues of collectivity and nutrition. Our students leave the classroom and resume their post-individual lives. We lecture and deliver information on nutrition at an individual level and never on the collective level. You might wonder how do we deal with nutrition on a collective level? First of all, the school food program is a result of collective action. Secondly, socially we eat as a social function often. Thirdly, many of our eating habits are results of cultural inputs from friends, parents, and other meaningful community members. Therefore, us not interacting with this nutritional infrastructure of connectivity and communication puts our students at a disadvantage. They interact with this infrastructure everyday and yet we never talk about it.

The hybrid nutrition educator program designed to develop youth advocates directly intercedes in this miseducation process. Whereas, young people would be "learning" an implied "nutrition philosophy" socially when they visit fast food restaurants or corner stores, but with this program will provide the social context for a proper education and the development of a more well-rounded "nutrition philosophy".

It's the combination of the individual and collective education that produces the kind of inputs to create a well-rounded educational experience.

Future Conversations with Principals

I anticipate talking with principals about possibilities for advanced nutrition programming in the near future. I will need to be brief with explanations and requests. This is how I see any monologue going at this point.


Principal,

I am working to begin arranging for a youth health advocacy program in your school's community. This program will expand on traditional nutrition education, cooking, and food safety to incorporate more critical thinking and leadership development. Specifically I will be guiding youth through a seven class series designed to introduce them to a critical look at their community's food system and built environment. As their understanding grows so too will their confidence to lead. By the conclusion of this program, they will have implemented a community action and will commit to lead for positive change in their communities into the future.

The results will see a community more interested in supporting and working with key decision makers to arrive at a mutually beneficial situation. Needless to say, these youth and community members will be critical allies for you and anyone else advocating for the future of health in our communities and nation.