Vicki Hoffman, Director of Nutrition Services, and Sarah Robertson, junior at Northwest High School, prepare a mixed berry cheesecake.
High school students take part in healthy cooking show
Some high school students are showing off their culinary skills by being a part of a new series of healthy meal cooking shows titled “Fit, Fast, On a Dime – Cooking with USD 259.” The shows are taped at each comprehensive high school involving students in the Family and Consumer Science classes, Gourmet Cooking or Culinary Careers classes. The students cook different healthy recipes and demonstrate cooking techniques. Students who are not on camera work behind the scenes chopping, mixing and preparing the food for the show.

“We came up with the recipes and we planned who would do the different jobs,” said Paige Murphy, junior at Northwest. Murphy demonstrated how to prepare strip steak with broiled asparagus for the show.

The shows will begin airing in December on the district’s WPS-TV cable channel on Cox 20 and AT&T U-Verse 99, and streamed on the district’s website and podcasts. The shows are being supported through a grant from the Sedgwick County Health and Wellness Coalition. The shows are to help combat increasing rates of obesity and related health problems for students, staff and community members.

“We want people to know that it’s not that difficult to prepare healthy meals even if some foods sound too fancy or expensive to prepare,” said Vicki Hoffman, Director of Nutrition Services and the show’s host. As students are demonstrating their recipes, Hoffman asks students about the food’s nutritional values, food safety, how long it takes to prepare the recipe and the cost of the ingredients.

The shows demonstrate that nutritional meals can be prepared quickly and can be an alternative to fast food.

“For many people, the biggest obstacle for cooking healthy meals at home is time,” said Shannon Krysl, Director of Employee Benefits, who helped secure the grant for the project. “The students demonstrate basic cooking techniques on how to prepare meals quickly and inexpensively.”

“The students are really enjoying being involved in this project,” Hoffman said. “Some students already want to have a career in the food industry, and this helps prepare them for the workforce. Others want to be the next Rachel Ray or Iron Chef.”

The shows are taped by the district’s Media Productions Department. At some high schools, the students enrolled in TV Production classes have helped with the taping. One show will be taped at each comprehensive high school during the fall semester and another show at each school will be taped during the spring semester.



Nov. 5, 2009