Cyclones At Orchard Site 'Eat Smart To Be Smart'

Natalie Bruzon
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Clearwater-Orchard is finishing off the year on a healthy note.

Both the Clearwater and Orchard sites have formed health advisory committees, dedicated to advancing health education for students.

The committees, which have met together, talked over programs which could be implemented at both sites to encourage healthy choices.

Out of those conversations, the Eat Smart To Be Smart program has come back to Orchard.

“We looked at our wellness and nutrition policy that we have in our handbook,” said Cathy Cooper, Orchard site’s principal, about the joint meeting.

According to Cooper, the boards discussed school lunches and other food available in school, the physical education and health curricula and the school’s recess policy, which is a time when student’s are encouraged to get active.

“Out of that came the idea to reinstate, and I say reinstate because we use to here at Orchard have a class choose a mean,” Cooper said. “. . . We went with that but we called this Eat Smart To Be Smart. Each of the classes received a menu from the cooks, and that menu was basically the food pyramid and within each food group were all the items they could make.”

Cooper explained that each grade level will vote within their classrooms for their meal, then grades will rotate hosting their lunches on Mondays, and the community is invited.

The fifth graders kicked off the program on December 12, and on December 19 the eight graders chose to eat walking tacos.

“So the kids then got to within their classrooms and pick an item from each of the food groups,” explained Cooper, “to put together for their meal.”

Cooper said all grade levels at the Orchard site will participate in the program, even the kindergarten students. The purpose of the program is to remind students that healthy choices make a difference.

“So kind of trying to incorporate the idea of healthy eating and good nutrition into the classroom and into the school day,” Cooper said. “How can we eat smart to be smart?”

Eat Smart To Be Smart is just the first program the Orchard health advisory committee has implemented.
Within the next half of the school year, the committee will meet again and discuss other ways to encourage a healthy lifestyle.

“We provided some materials to members of the school health advisory council, some websites like letsmove.gov and there’s actually a lot of information on that site,” said Cooper. “And their assignment was to brainstorm and think of things so we’re going to reconvene in the spring to start implementation.”