Lead Agency: Illinois Health Education Consortium

With a spirit of adventure characterized by the school's namesake, teacher and astronaut Christa McAuliffe, first graders at McAuliffe Elementary School tried new foods and participated in healthy eating activities as part of the Healthy Eating by Design project. Each day, they sampled mid-afternoon fresh fruit or vegetable snacks and learned about healthy eating by visiting local farms and growing backyard and home container gardens with their families. Curricula integrating nutrition and gardening education into other subjects and visits by local farmers further reinforced healthy eating messages. Parents and families received newsletters and healthy recipes and participated in healthy eating adventures through after-school and evening healthy cooking demonstrations and gardening workshops.

These activities were a hit with students and families, and they led to noticeable healthy changes over the course of the Healthy Eating by Design project. More students tried new fruits and vegetables and increased their intake of the healthy snacks. More parents began participating in the cooking demonstrations, and many reported that their children were now asking them to purchase fruits and vegetables. Teachers and staff members also reported that students seemed to have more energy, greater concentration and improved readiness to learn after eating their mid-afternoon snacks. School records even showed a decrease in the number of first graders' afternoon disciplinary trips to the office—down from 16 in the year before the project to just two in the year it was implemented.

Central to the success of the Chicago Healthy Eating by Design project was the partnership's continuous efforts to communicate with school partners at all levels. For example, teachers initially had concerns about the snack program infringing on teaching time, making it difficult to keep classrooms clean and affecting the children's appetites before lunch. The partnership listened to the teachers and responded by changing the timing of the snack, delivering snacks in individual portions and providing hand wipes and garbage bags for trash. As a result, the teachers happily embraced the new snack program.

At the district level, strong communication was also important—and ongoing discussions with the Chicago Public Schools director of logistics for food service proved to be mutually beneficial. The partnership helped the director envision how the Healthy Eating by Design program could be replicated across the district. She responded with a commitment to continue funding the snack program through the students' first- and second-grade years. The director also purchased a salad bar at McAuliffe Elementary School to make fruits, vegetables, yogurt and other healthy foods available to students for breakfast and lunch. "We are all taking this very seriously," said the director. "We want to introduce more fresh fruits and vegetables and use more low-fat meats to help kids improve their eating habits."