With the Lake Washington School District's new Nutrition and Physical Fitness Policy as the impetus, Peter Kirk Elementary School established a wellness committee. The goal is to raise awareness with Peter Kirk students, parents, teachers and staff of the importance of eating healthy and keeping physically active.
Our big message this year is moderation. We want to keep the fun in the school parties and events that kids and parents love. We just want to increase the healthy choices available and decrease the quantity of non-nutritious foods made available to students. We're very lucky to have two nutritionists involved. Kerry Neville is my co-chair on the committee and is a registered dietician. Stephanie Lecovin, also a registered dietician, managed to establish Peter Kirk Elementary School as a nutrition pilot school and is working on making healthy changes to the school's hot lunch menu.
We're off to a good start this year, including removing pop from any school- or PTSA-sponsored events, and limiting the number of school events where non-nutritious foods are served. In addition, at all PTSA events (except the carnival), there will be only one treat served, including beverages.
Some of the activities in March include a poster contest, a salad recipe contest, healthy snack samples, evening parent education seminars and a lunchroom series of talks.
We hope National Nutrition Month will get the kids excited about taking good care of their own bodies and keeping and/or developing healthy habits that will last them a lifetime.
Meredith Goldstein is the wellness committee co-chair at Peter Kirk Elementary School. She can be reached at meredithgoldstein@hotmail.com.
