Interview/Observation Blog # 3

Blog Post #3

           This has been the most interesting and informative interview and observation that I have done in this course. I really enjoyed talking with this person. The person that I interviewed was a head cook at the primary school, her name is Ms. Amy. She has held that position for two years. She worked at the middle school in the cafeteria prior to the position that she holds now. I was very surprise when I was informed that she does very little cooking. When you say head cook the first thing that comes to my mind is cooking. In reality she informed me that the only meal that she prepared is breakfast.  This meal is the most important meal to her. Her duties consist of paperwork, doing the menus, ordering food, and taking care of the after school snacks.

Ms. Amy stated that she encourage fresh fruits and vegetables for breakfast and lunch. When she first took the position and implemented fresh fruit, she had a student that had never had a cucumber. She had to explain to the student what a cucumber was. There was also another student that never had an orange. This encouraged her to eliminate fried foods, now nothing is fried, and everything is baked.

A second insight that I gain from Ms. Amy was the importance of getting the preschool teachers to incorporate healthy snacks for the preschoolers. Their snacks are served in their classrooms. She stated that she worry about the students not eating the right foods at home. There have been several times that she has observed a student giving another student food off of his/her plate. There have been times that she has seen students putting food in their pockets. She always gives them extra food if they want it. In observing the children eat lunch one can say that 75% to 80% of the students ate all of their lunch. These were the students that eat hot lunch, which is about 90% of them.

I have learned concerning the topic that I am going to write about, is that as of 2012- 2013 the schools will no longer be able to serve 1% milk. They will be required to serve fat free milk. There is no longer a pyramid, it is now a plate. Students may be able to relate to the plate better then a pyramid. When a student sees a plate they can actually see their food item from that food group and the portion size of the food on a plate. Ms. Amy stated that teaching her staff the new regulations is always a challenge. She has to constantly remind them, of the new rules and regulations.

One agency that I learned about was a community church, which advocate for the children. They have made some beautiful tote bags; food is place in these bags. The bags are brought to the school every Friday and the students get to take them home with them. I would like to make a difference in the community. In having a very large activity center built. In the center there would be a gym, basketball court, exercise equipment, ping pong table and an indoor track and etc.  This activity will be for children only, and there will not be any video games. There would be a room if the students need to be tutor with their homework assignments. In this activity center, children will be able to be physically active everyday all year round. This center would have such an impact on the children in that they would run to this place every day.