High school scholars at Newburgh Free Academy North Campus are participating in a series of workshops to help them make good choices when it comes to finances and nutrition. The goal of the series is to help scholars learn to calculate nutritional value of food options in conjunction with financial cost of those meals. Throughout these lessons, Ms. Erica Dahl, Community Nutrition Educator for Snap-Ed New York Hudson Valley presented different workshops for scholars in the Financial Literacy class taught by Mrs. Roberta Morrow and Ms. Christine Jobson. These workshops will build to create knowledge needed to achieve the overall goal of the lessons.  

On this particular day, scholars learned about the fat content in certain meals. First, scholars broke into groups and were asked to list all fast food restaurants in Newburgh. Fast food restaurants were chosen for ease of access and cost typical for a teenager. Next, scholars were asked to list why these foods are typically considered to be unhealthy. Next, a physical demonstration of five pounds of fat was passed around the class for scholars to better understand the weight and mass of that amount of weight in terms of fat. 

Next, presenter Ms. Erica Dahl demonstrated an example of a typical order of chicken wings from Dominos. Ms. Dahl taught students how to calculate the conversion of grams of fat listed on the menu to teaspoon measurements for the purpose of the demonstration. Next, scholars were asked to demonstrate the amount of fat in different meals at various fast food restaurants. Then, they were challenged to select the most healthy item on the menu. Finally, scholars were asked to list ways in which they could choose good meal options at these restaurants.

Pervious lessons have focused on sugar content. Future lessons will focus on financial value and combining these lessons to make the best choice nutritionally and financially. 

Teachers interested in working with Snap-Ed New York Hudson Valley in their classroom can contact Ms. Erica Dahl at edd58@cornell.edu.