Summary

Why do you think the community based education programs had the greatest influence?

Most everyone agreed that community based education is good because it is voluntary. People are more interested in participating and learning when it is something they are choosing to do. Whereas the school based programs are more mandatory and some of the kids may not be on board with the program. Lots of good points about children getting the message but not relaying it to their parents, and that the ultimate shopping decisions are with the parents. Having the parents involved with the children is key, as long as they were vested in the program. If they were using the program as a babysitter there would likely be no impact. So I agree with everyone’s response and the points that were made.

Do you think school-based programs could/should include learning objectives of a garden-based education into their lesson plans and if so would it increase the acceptance of these types of programs?

School based programs are a great way to get the nutrition message out. I love the comments and the ideas that went into the responses. Yes there is money and a time issue the schools would have to overcome. It seems to be the problem that everyone is facing. People tend to eat poorly because the think better food cost more and they do not have the time to cook, let alone know what to cook. Adding a program like this to the curriculum is going to take some time away from other lessons and it is going to cost the school some money. That is a hurdle that they have to overcome and we as a society must demand it for the health of our future adults. These are the people that will be taking care of us later and I want them to be healthy and able to make logical decisions. Adding the program to lessons already in place is a great answer. There are programs out there that are incorporating nutrition education into there science classes and it does fit right in. Of course this is our field and we want our message to be heard. Starting this program early would only seem to influence the children positively at an early age. It will come down to funding in the end, hopefully it will be something that will be important enough to include in the future.

As a future professional would this be a program you could get behind and how would you improve it?

The response was unanimously in favor of backing this type of program. Everyone had different ideas of plans for the program which are all wonderful thoughts that give different perspectives to implement such a program. Community dietetics is my goal and I selected this article for selfish purposes. This is a program I do hope to start wherever I land and the obstacles to overcome are real. I think everyone is logical in their thoughts and gave realistic answers that went along with study. More research is needed in this area to back such programs—(something for the first year interns to think about for a thesis!!) The more research regarding these programs, which of course have positive outcomes, will only help with the large problem of funding. The more proof that something can have a positive effect, the more people are willing to back you and your program. I think everyone’s response to this question demonstrates our passion to communicate preventative nutritional education that encourages our youth, parents, educators and community to have a healthy future.