According to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control, half of children in Indiana between the ages of 1 to 5 don’t eat a daily vegetable, and two-thirds drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a week. These behaviors can be difficult to change, but Purdue Extension and the Welborn Baptist Foundation are helping children to make healthier choices.
Joining together to support Indiana communities
The Welborn Baptist Foundation’s mission is to cultivate communities that thrive, so they created a program called Upgrade for schools. Upgrade uses evidence-based programs to encourage healthier behaviors because “healthy students are better learners.” The program currently serves schools in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.
When Purdue Extension health and human sciences (HHS) educators heard about Upgrade, they jumped at the chance to create a partnership.
“Extension Educators and the Welborn Baptist Foundation realized that we were working in the same spaces and shared the goal of improving the health of our students through similar initiatives. It made sense to look at an official collaboration,” explained Megan Jaspersen, Extension HHS educator for Perry and Spencer counties.
Currently, Extension educators facilitate Upgrade in 31 schools across southern Indiana through nine strategies to increase physical activity and improve nutrition.
Extension health and human science educator, Jo Gilreath, shares tips about ways to fit exercise into a busy day. Adding movement into gym class, recess and the classroom to increase physical activity
Jaspersen is the physical activity expert among the HHS educators. She supports the five physical activity strategies: walking program, active recess, super active PE, brain boosters and minds in motion.
The walking program incentivizes kids to get moving before and after school through counting steps towards fun landmarks, like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Active recess encourages kids to play games at recess, and super active PE gives teachers guidance on creating engaging gym lessons.
“I don't feel like I was designed to sit in a desk all day, so I love having the ability to get out into schools and help PE teachers,” Jaspersen said. “Sometimes I'll co-teach a class for a day or introduce a new activity to give teachers new tools in their toolbox.”
Teachers can also use brain boosters to give students breaks from learning through moving their bodies while minds in motion benefits all students in a school through providing a room with activities to increase concentration, like solving a maze or walking on a balance beam.
“It's more important now than ever for kids to be moving when they are at school because they go home and often sit in front of technology or scroll for way more hours than they used to instead of going to play outside,” Jaspersen said. “School might be the only time that those kids are going to get any physical activity in their day.”
Using upgraded cafeterias and positive peer-pressure to encourage healthy eating
Angie Ray, Extension HHS educator for Gibson County, works closely with schools on general food and beverage strategies.
“We might help a school get bottle fillers if they don't have that so that they're drinking water. Or we might talk about the importance of drinking water as opposed to soda,” Ray said. “It’s also classroom information, like encouraging parents to bring in non-food items or healthy foods for classroom parties or rewards.”
Different educators assist schools in the other nutrition strategies: SuperFood Heroes, cafeteria enhancements and fresh menus.
SuperFood Heroes encourages children to try new foods in the classroom through monthly lessons about healthy food “superpowers,” in-class taste tests and take-home recipes.
“For example, there’s Randy Radish,” Ray said. “His superpower is healing, because if you looked at foods with a ‘food is medicine’ view, that's what a radish does. Radishes are kind of spicy, so if little kids don't love spicy foods, they might have to try it several times before they get a taste for it. Kids’ tastes develop by a certain age, so if they haven't tried something, they don't know that they like it and may never try it at home.”
Lunchtime strategies include cafeteria enhancements, which improve equipment in school kitchens and cafeterias, and offering fresh menus, which integrate from-scratch recipes and fresh ingredients.
“Many Indiana schools are in rural areas,” Ray said. “We’re able to provide support that helps low-resource schools have similar offerings to other nearby schools.”
Expanding to reach more students
Every two years, K-8 schools can apply for grant funding from the Welborn Baptist Foundation. Once approved, schools begin receiving support, including money to make a campus enhancement related to healthy choices. Extension educators then work with the schools to help them implement some of the nine strategies.
Students learn about growing their own food through a school garden. In the future, Upgrade may expand to high schools, and Jaspersen, who helped to pilot action-based learning initiatives at Central High School, is excited for this possibility. After one year of adopting action-based learning strategies, or infusing more activity into lessons and the lives of students, the school reported increases in student energy levels and interactions between students and decreases in in-school and out-of-school suspensions.
Jaspersen said the partnership with Central High School and the other schools she supports have been really positive. Gabriella Isaacson, Upgrade program assistant for Purdue Extension, agrees.
“We’ve been able to get people on the ground to support these schools, which are often understaffed and overwhelmed,” Isaacson said. “Having additional people from Purdue Extension and access to our knowledge and resources, I think it's taken the Upgrade program to the next level.”