Students learn about healthier choices
<p>Ella Robles, a fifth-grader at Hayden Meadows Elementary School, tries to keep her milk mustache sticker in place while laughing with classmates during the lunch hour on Monday.</p>
HAYDEN — Rylinn Raedobenko made a move on milk on Monday.
The first-grader took white instead of chocolate in the lunch line at Hayden Meadows Elementary — and the decision paid dividends.
Not only was it a healthier choice, she learned from firefighters, but it earned her a coveted white milk mustache sticker that she proudly donned and she and classmates giggled about.
"I like white better now because it's healthier," Rylinn said.
She also showed off playing cards she earned for correctly answering nutrition-related questions. The cards had healthy choices such as an "Amazing Fruit Pizza" on one side and local firefighters on the other.
The fun educational lunch was a collaboration between the Coeur d'Alene School District's Nutrition Services Department, the University of Idaho's "Eat Smart Idaho" program and the Coeur d'Alene and Northern Lakes fire departments.
Coeur d'Alene firefighter Dylan Clark handed out white milk mustache stickers and playing cards to students as they went through the lunch line.
"On a day-to-day basis, 90 percent of the students pick chocolate milk, but today probably 95 percent chose white," Clark said. "It's been a complete reversal."
Amazing what a little education and influence will do.
"Part of our obligation as role models and firefighters is to set an example," Clark said.
In just an 8-ounce container, there are 11 more grams of sugar in chocolate milk than in white milk.
"It's not that students aren't necessarily eating healthy at home, but we want to make sure they are at school," said Shelly Johnson, director of the UI program. "It's nutrition education through the lunch line and encouraging them to become healthier eaters."
Coeur d'Alene firefighters have been distributing other nutrition materials such as recipe books and calendars to students.
Ed Ducar, director of the school district's Nutrition Services Department, said "harvests of the month" are offered to educate students on fruits and vegetables. The collaboration with the fire departments and UI makes learning about nutrition lively, he said.
Fifth-grader Brynn Johnson said after opting for white milk over chocolate, she doesn't miss the sweetness chocolate offers.
"White is healthier so I like it better," she said.