North East School District

Project Description

North East School District in North East, PA got creative when trying to get students excited about eating new fruits and vegetables. At Davis Primary School, they came up with the idea of the “Friendship Fruit Salad.” Each variety of fresh fruit represented good qualities and actions, such as kindness, hard work, or sharing. Bad fruits, like rotten bananas, represented bad qualities and actions, such as name calling, not doing your homework, etc.

The students voted on which kinds of fruit to put in the fruit salad, and proceeded to gobble it up. Connecting the fruits with beneficial actions at school helped build a positively charged bowl, which led to a lesson about health benefits. The creativity of the project got the students excited about trying fresh fruits. It prompted the cafeteria staff to add more of students’ favorite fruits to the regular menu, such as watermelon, strawberries, and grapes.

Food Service Director Robin Petroff-Hedlund recounts the reaction from the students after their Project Produce activities, “The students loved it. We were overhearing kids saying ‘Where’s the apples? Where’s the grapes?’”

Successes

• Students enjoyed trying new fresh, nutritious foods.
• Teachers, parents and principals were overwhelmingly supportive of the effort.
• The cafeteria adapted their menu to include more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Challenges

• Prepping such large amounts of fresh produce for the programs.
• Documenting their purchases.