At the University of California Cooperative Extension, we are proud to partner with the dietitians of tomorrow!

Since August we have worked with 5 dietetic interns from California State University, Fresno.  I have had the pleasure of taking them to school sites, and showing them a typical day in the life of a Community Education Specialist working in community nutrition.

Intern Cori Vankerkhove presents a lesson about why it's important to wash your hands to Ms. Ramos' 1st grade class at Chavez Elementary.

Cori Vankerkhove teaching another class. This time she's teaching our Healthy Body lesson to Ms. Silva's 5th grade class at Chavez Elementary.

Intern Reshma John teaching our 'wash your hands' lesson to Mrs. Llamas 1st grade class at Bishop Elementary in Coalinga.

We look forward to working with additional Fresno State dietetic interns in January! To learn more about the Fresno State Dietetics Program, Click here.

If you'd like to gain experience in community nutrition by volunteering with UC CalFresh, apply to participate in our Master Education Extender Team by clicking here.

Building Smarter Lunchrooms

One of the concepts from the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement has to do with branding and promoting cafeteria meals to increase participation and the consumption of healthy foods. Fresno Unified launched a new soft taco at Computech earlier this week. With just a few promotional signs and flyers, the tacos were a hit! 

Promo flyers spread the word about the new tacos.

Leadership students handed out flyers at breakfast. Within minutes every student had a flyer, and the cafeteria was abuzz with talks of taco Tuesday.

Mini posters were placed throughout the cafeteria, in high traffic areas.

The tacos were a student favorite. In fact, students asked if every Tuesday could be taco Tuesday!

Join the Movement

The total cost to promote the new taco was just over $11. Low-cost promotions can help school food service departments encourage students to try new things.

UC CalFresh can provide technical assistance to help start a Smarter Lunchrooms movement in your cafeteria! If you'd like to join the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement in Fresno County, email Shelby MacNab at smacnab@ucanr.edu to get started.

Fresno Welcomes USDA Undersecretary Kevin Concannon

Fresno Unified is the largest school district in California to apply for the community eligibility provision. As the videos below demonstrate, the district is thrilled to offer meals to all students! 

Smarter Lunchrooms Make a Big Impact at Computech Middle School

UC CalFresh has collaborated with FUSD on Smarter Lunchrooms efforts in the district, and was invited to work at Computech Middle School to make a few additions to the cafeteria to promote healthy foods.

Computech has a large cafeteria with a lot of room to feature student work, add items to the serving line, and promote healthy foods. The flow of meal service is very efficient, and the Noon Time Assistants at the school already do a fantastic job of setting up the lunch trays for meal service each day. After identifying many strengths at the site, our goal was to enhance and build on those strengths. Working together we made a huge impact!

Below are some of the photos of the additions made to the cafeteria, along with the positive feedback we have already received from staff and students! 

Before: the sneeze guard made it challenging for students to reach their food. Since the food is wrapped for meal service, the sneeze guard was removed. Making that change really opened up the space.

After: removing the sneeze guard made food easier to reach. Bonus: menu cards were added to showcase healthy food!

During his visit, the Undersecretary said his favorite part of the Smarter Lunchrooms movement was the menu cards.

Before: plastic tubs were used to present fruit. Small changes in presentation made a big difference.

After: adding mixed fruit to the bowls in the serving line created a visually appealing display and took only a few extra minutes to prepare. This change demonstrates one of the best parts of Smarter Lunchrooms: low to no-cost changes that can make a big impact!

After: Fresh fruit in bowls is eye catching, and a yellow tablecloth brightens the serving line, giving it a cafe feel. The Noon Time Assistants stack trays for every lunch service. Not only does it look fun, it speeds up the service line by separating trays (pictured right) that tend to stick together when stacked.

In the middle of the transition from tubs to bowls, clear and stainless bowls were used. Food Service District Supervisor, Morgan Terry, noted that students took 3 times as much fruit from the clear bowls as they took from stainless steel bowls. Seeing this difference, food service purchased additional clear bowls.

"The bowls look real nice, real fancy." -student, upon seeing tablecloths and clear fruit bowls replacing the tubs used.

Before: A large freezer blocked off the front of the cafeteria.

After: Relocating the freezer cleared the way to make nutrition and student artwork the center of attention!

"It looks really nice." -student, remarking on the changes made in the cafeteria.

Though copies of the menu are always available to students, pictures of the foods being served were new. FUSD offers a fantastic selection of healthy meals daily. With the help of the UC CalFresh team, the breakfast menu took center stage!

After: branding the cafeteria as the Computech Cafe was great! Students really liked seeing their mascot and school colors on all of the new signage.

To promote nutrition and wellness throughout the campus, a few additions were made to the staff lounge as well.

 "It makes me feel like I want to be in here." -Noon Time Assistant, commenting on the changes to the teachers' lunchroom

Future Collaborations Planned

UC CalFresh had a great time working at Computech, and looks forward to collaborating with FUSD Food Service staff at additional school sites early next year! 

If you'd like to be a part of the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement in Fresno County, email Shelby MacNab at smacnab@ucanr.edu to get started.

UC CalFresh often attends community and school events to promote nutrition and physical activity. At their recent harvest festival, students at Birney elementary started their evening of fun and food off with a little physical activity!

They rehydrated after their workout with mango infused water. Yum!

These two spun the opportunity at the UC CalFresh booth to work their legs with squats. I joined in and got a great workout myself!

They came back for more, so we also dribbled a basketball, jumped rope, did jumping jacks and bicep curls. It was a busy night at the free physical activity booth!

UC CalFresh teaches nutrition and promotes physical activity in Fresno County. Learn more about how we can support your school or organization by visiting our website.