Pilot Nutrition Education Program at Brentwood Elementary

 “I commit to being physically fit, and I will lead a healthy lifestyle,”

--Second grade students at Brentwood Elementary school recite the U.S. Track and Field Association pledge during a special nutrition education class offered by War on Poverty-Florida.

At the start of the 2009-2010 school year, we launched a pilot nutrition education program at Brentwood Elementary in northwest Jacksonville.  Students in 1st grade at the school participated in an 18 week session, with instruction offered for 30 minutes once per week.  Second grade students are in the midst of education lasting the entire school year, at 1 hour per week.  The program provides information and facts on healthy foods & snacks (based on MyPyramid), provides tasting demonstrations and other educational activities that support youth making smart choices with food.

To kick off the program and build excitement for the program, we held a special assembly at Brentwood last September, and invited program partners; Commit 2B Fit, Chartwells-Thompson School Dining Services, Duval County Public Schools, and the Jaguars Foundation.

Special invited guests for the event included a couple Jacksonville Jaguars players, Jaxson de Ville - the official Jaguars mascot, and Theodore Eat from Chartwells Thompson.

The pilot nutrition education program at Brentwood is an extension of the Building a Healthy Community Childhood Obesity Prevention Project (BHC), and is funded in part by grant from The Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida, Embrace a Healthy Florida initiative. Our partnerships with Duval County Health Department, Pearl Street Nutrition Services and students from the University of North Florida Nutrition Education department have been integral to the success of this program.