On Wednesday, May 24th The John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition held the second day of the Healthy Kids, Healthy Programs Summit. In the morning a Recognition Ceremony was held to recognize the schools who participated in the Massachusetts Smarter Lunchrooms Movement and Wellness Initiatives for Student Success as well as other professional development programs offered in the 2016-2017 academic year.
In an afternoon breakout session Smarter Lunchrooms Movement: Nudging Students to Eat Healthy Christanne Harrison, MPH, RD, Kristen Morello, SNS, School Nutrition Director (Reading, MA) and Kim Purcell, School Nutrition Manager (Central Elementary School, East Bridgewater, MA) discussed the successes of the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement in Massachusetts.
During this session the presenters discussed new Smarter Lunchrooms resources as well as steps Massachusetts School Nutrition Programs have implemented to make the healthy choice the easy choice. The Massachusetts Smarter Lunchrooms initiative was extended for a second year in 2016-2017 and like the first year, it was very successful! Twenty-five schools in Massachusetts applied for and were chosen to receive technical assistance in implementing Smarter Lunchrooms strategies throughout the 2016-2017 school year. Schools were assigned a Smarter Lunchrooms coach who provided technical assistance including completion of the Smarter Lunchrooms Scorecard, identification of goals and an implementation plan, as well as ongoing communication and access to resources throughout the school year. The Massachusetts Smarter Lunchrooms Movement is unique when compared to other states because of the individualized support and communication between the coach and the school.
Kristin Morello shared some tips with the audience:
- Involve the staff in completing your school’s Smarter Lunchrooms goals.
- Complete the cheapest and easiest goals first.
- Identify one challenging goal that will take planning and collaboration and use that as a school goal.
Kim Purcell explained how collaborations within the school can lead to better outcomes with Smarter Lunchrooms goals. In her school, the principal sometimes describes a fruit or a vegetable over the loud speaker and the students are charged with guessing what it is. Engaging all school staff and students is a wonderful and creative way to get students thinking about fruits and vegetables throughout the school day.
The Massachusetts Smarter Lunchrooms Movement was shared nationally at Cornell University at the 2017 Smarter Lunchrooms Annual Symposium on May 12-13th.
Smarter Lunchrooms summary sheets for each of the participating schools:
- Acton-Boxborough – Grey Junior High School
- Acushnet – Ford Middle School
- Bedford – Lane Elementary School
- Beverly – Beverly High School
- Brewster – Eddy Elementary School
- Bolton – Nashoba Regional High School
- Chelsea – Chelsea High School
- East Bridgewater – Central Elementary School
- East Longmeadow – East Longmeadow High School
- Freetown-Lakeville – Apponequet Regional High School
- Hamilton-Wenham – Winthrop Elementary School
- Lincoln – Hanscom Middle School
- Mansfield – Qualters Middle School
- Mattapoisett – Old Rochester Regional Jr./Sr. High School
- Medfield – Blake Middle School
- Medford – Medford High School
- Quabbin – Oakham Center School
- Salem – Collins Middle School
- Shrewsbury – Oak Middle School
- Uxbridge – Taft Early Learning Center
- Wareham – Wareham High School
To learn more about the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement visit the Smarter Lunchrooms category in the JSI Resource Center and consider becoming a Smarter Lunchrooms school in SY17-18.
