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Audio Recording |
Student: My project is a nutrition program aimed at kindergarten and 1st grade, explaining the importance of choosing healthy foods, it's called Attack Pack. I chose nutrition because I like to help people who need help, and with the growing issue of obesity on the news and everything, I saw my chance to help and get involved.
Obesity, more than 61% of Texas adults and 35% of Texas school age children are considered overweight or obese, and this is growing rapidly. Obesity is related with heart diseases, heart attack, diabetes, cancer, chronic diseases, a short life expectancy, and depression. A lot of these diseases are fatal. It is our job as knowledgeable people to inform the future generation of effects of unwise decisions, not only health related. I chose to write skits because this is an easy and fun teaching method. At first I wanted to write a book, but after researching into it and talking to a few people, I realized that children, young children, aren't interested in nutrition. So, I decided nutrition is, a nutrition book isn't the way to approach it because children can choose to read that book or not, and they would probably choose not to read it. With skits we know that the children are learning, we know that they are getting the information. They like movement, and they like noise, and skits give them that. Skits involve them because in my skits there's a song that they can maybe dance to, they can get into. They also, in one of my skits they get to jump to help them realize how to burn off what you eat, and there's short familiar tunes that they can relate to. Snack Attack is the first of the three skits. It's a battle to choose healthy snacks over junk food, it also touches on exercise. The Lack Attack is the second skit. It's a learning experience about the food groups and a balanced diet. Attack Back is the last skit, it's the shortest, but is has a powerful message. It's talking about a choice, it's your choice, it's the students' choice to live healthy or not. Does anyone have questions?Woman: You went to all those elementary schools?
Student: All, yes. I went to the 5 elementary schools.
Woman: I wondered if you could see any connections to the fast and furious lifestyles that we all lead, and the rise in obesity?
Student: Actually yes. I think that is one of the causes of obesity. The hurry of this society, hurrying to grab food at a restaurant, hurrying, not having time to exercise, living from one minute to the next. It's one thing, it's not healthy; another thing, it's teaching our children, teaching the children bad habits. Bad eating habits, bad habits of not exercise, and while adults are running around and living hectic lives, a lot of the time children are left at home to watch TV and kind of watch themselves, and I really think that plays a big role on increase and rise in obesity.
Woman: Did you do any studies about how the package of candy is bigger than they were 10 years ago?
Student: I actually, um everything has doubled, you can up-size everything. You can get larges upgrades in every meal at fast food restaurants, and just in the stores and stuff everything is bigger, and that also plays a big role on obesity. There's not just one cause of obesity, there are several. It's just our society is letting a few things slip that is causing obesity to grow. Yes sir.
Man: How did contact with professionals help you?
Student: How did it help me? It helped a lot. I thought I was professional before this year, and I don't know how professional people do it. I, they do this kind of thing for a living and they do a good job at it and it helps me understand how I had to push myself in order to make this, this skit and this presentation work. I had to be very professional about it, I had to ask the people I was around to be professional about it, and it really helped me see the seriousness of everything.
Man: You wrote several plays, how would you implement more than one in the school? Like you did the first one here, how would, do you have a strategy for getting all of them in the school?
Student: I have no specific strategy. The one that I got into the school, it was hard just to get that one. All the organization it took, the calling of all the different principals, writing the letters, training the children to know how to act it, getting everything prepared, it took weeks just to get one in the school. So it would probably take some pretty serious people, and some pretty involved people really wanting to get this into the schools to actually make it work. I would suggest, the skits kind of all flow together, and I would suggest if you wanted to do all three of them in one year to do it in such like at the beginning of the year, and one around Christmas time, and one at the end. It is very difficult for one skit, so it would be hard to do all three skits in a row. Yes.
Woman: Are you planning on getting the curriculum into the school system so teachers will have access to it?
Student: That was the idea and actually right now I haven't had time to really think through all of that yet, and it needs further research and investigation, and it would be something great to look into a continuation on my project.
Woman: Are there any other groups of people that might help the kids or that might need to be shown this kind of thing?
Student: Actually, I don't think the children could do this all on their own, parents also need to know. I just focused on the children, however there are other programs out there who focus on the parents, who focus on teachers. They also need to be informed about this because children themselves, that young of age, whenever they're first being influenced can't make decisions on their own, they can't, they need the influence of the parents. And so, yes these skits are good, but they also need support from their parents, they need teachers, and they need other adult figures in their life to be involved also. Okay, if there's no more questions, then I am through here, and thank you.