SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) partnered with school districts across Northwest Arkansas to help plan healthier eating for the 2024-25 school year.
The school’s Institute for Community Health Innovation worked with Farmington, Lincoln, Rogers, and Siloam Springs school districts. Training seminars included topics such as USDA meal requirements, nutrition label readings, and tips on how to reach picky eaters.
"Everyone's goal is to make our meals healthier and something that the kids will eat, and I think really switching out things that kids already love with something just a little bit healthier," Associate Director of Community Programs for the Northwest Regional Campus of UAMS Bonnie Faitak said.
According to Faitak, their team of nutritionists tailored their training to each school district's specific needs. She said they work with the child nutrition directors to help come up with a plan for the upcoming school year.
Siloam Springs School District's Director of Child Nutrition Elizabeth Cheramie said her department feeds around 3,500 students a day and provides over 700,000 meals to students every year. She said participating in these seminars will help the district prepare for the upcoming year.
"Our staff really enjoyed the training," Cheramie said. "They work with us on our menus and the new USDA guidelines that are coming out, they have given us suggestions on how to reduce sugar or fat or salt in our menus."
As more information becomes available, Cheramie said the district works to make meals for students healthier and tastier. She said they have looked at different types of seasonings for flavor as well as ways to reduce sodium.
Cheramie said providing healthier meals at school will help students in the classroom.
"The more we can get our children to eat, the better they learn, especially at breakfast," Cheramie said. "Breakfast is a big deal because if we don't feed our children, there are plenty of studies out there that show that if kids come to school hungry, they don't learn as well."
While a healthy school meal may be a choice for some students, for others, it may be vital.
"Arkansas leads the nation in childhood food insecurity, so it's really critical that we're making meals that are healthy for those kiddos because they rely on those meals every day," Faitak said.
Chermie said through the USDA’s Seamless Summer Option, a program that provides free meals and snacks to all kids 18 and under, the district was able to provide over 34,000 meals. She said that number was up 18,000 from the previous year.
She said adding breakfast options to the mobile sites, Monday through Friday, helped contribute to the increase of meals served.
As the school year begins again, school food nutritionists will continue the work of feeding the community.
"We always like to uplift the work that our child nutrition directors are doing, recognizing the important impact that they're having in their communities for those kids," Faitak said. "What they are doing is amazing, to ensure that those kids are fed and able to and ready to learn every day at school."
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