WILLIAMSBURG — Williamsburg-James City County (WJCC) Schools’ healthy lifestyle program gained top recognition in the 2024 Virginia School Boards Association’s (VSBA) Food for Thought Competition.
According to the VSBA, the Food for Thought Competition is a friendly competition between Virginia’s school divisions to showcase programs that combat childhood hunger, provide healthy school meals, and encourage wellness and physical activity.
The division’s School Health Initiative Program (SHIP) was honored with the award among a handful of divisions at the recent VSBA Conference on Education in Richmond.
Kimberley Hundley and Randy Riffle, WJCC School Board members, accepted the award on behalf of WJCC schools.
WJCC Schools’ SHIP program collaborated with the division’s Special Education Department (SPED) to create the “Exceptionally Healthy Life Skills Cooking Program” for students with disabilities to learn about healthy eating. The program earned accolades in the competition’s Wellness and Physical Activity category.
The Exceptionally Healthy Program provides a hands-on learning environment where students with disabilities can actively participate in cooking labs focused on health and wellness, the division said.
Through these activities, students build their knowledge, skills and confidence in their ability to cook, according to WJCC Schools. They learn how to create a grocery list, follow a recipe, measure ingredients, practice knife skills, handle appliances, and practice safe food handling and cleanup.
In their cooking labs, students get accustomed to eating healthy dishes full of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, expanding their palate and fostering a love of healthy foods, according to WJCC Schools.
This program empowers students to understand balanced meals, make healthy choices, and use their new skills to prepare fresh food for themselves, it said, adding with three meals a day, seven days a week, healthy meal choices may be one of the skills students use the most.
