In an effort to expand from repetitious curriculum, health teacher Ms. Terri O’Leary reached out to administration to get her students involved in writing meal plans. Three students from O’Leary’s class had their meal plans chosen, and had them served to students on Feb. 12. They will also be served on Feb. 19 and 26.
“[O’Leary] challenged her class to write a menu with our cost and nutrition guidelines,” Parkway Director of Food Services Marlene Pfeiffer said. “No more than 30% total fat, 10% saturated fat, and zero trans fat.”
The challenge was loosely based on previous curriculum. O’Leary normally assigns a project of designing an average meal plan, not something that must meet school and USDA regulations. This year’s different approach made students learn about the calories and cost of food production, combined with a chance for students to be involved.
“I hear kids complain about school lunches all the time,” O’Leary said. “It’s easy to complain about something, it’s harder to change it.”
O’Leary says that the project was a very difficult task, but a great learning experience for the kids. Reactions of students before and after the project led her to believe that this experience was beneficial.
“Lots of them didn’t know what you had to cost out or what the nutritional information looked like,” Pfeiffer said. “The student got to have ownership.”
Costs and calories didn’t stop at the entree; the nutrition guidelines had to be considered for sides dishes, as well. Every meal the students came up with had to include a fruit and a vegetable, even if on the side. Costs extended farther than just the ingredients of the meals, it included the salaries, uniforms, and equipment for every worker from every step along the way.
Sophomore JP Byrne, who won third place with his Asian cucumber chicken pasta salad, says that he was able to both learn and have a good time participating in the contest.
“I’ve always been into cooking, so I just thought all these flavors mixed well together,” Byrne said. “I just tried to come up with something new. I came up with my meal and started doing research to make sure that I stayed within the guidelines.”
Besides costs and nutritional guidelines, winners were also selected on predictions of how well the students would enjoy the food and availability of products. Parkway uses the same vendors all year, so checking that all ingredients are sold by these people is essential.
The competition is already trying to expand, as O’Leary has already tried to get more Central classes participating. She says that as long as Pfeiffer is willing to work with her she will continue the program.
“Other teachers wanted to see how it went over before they took it on,” O’Leary said. “I’ve mentioned it to all the other health teachers and they seemed pretty excited. It’s easier for us to work with them, though, because the administration building is right next door.”
The beneficial experience was felt by the faculty, as well. Student comment cards have helped Pfeiffer’s team gauge what problems they could fix with the students lunch that number of sales could never tell them.