Grant helps school create lifetime habits one snack at a time
OLIVET, Mich. (WOOD) — Two years ago, when Mindy Otto took over as the physical education teacher at Fern Persons Elementary in Olivet, she was shocked to learn how much work she would have to put into what she thought were basics.
The former general education teacher of more than two decades learned that only two of her kindergarten through third students had any knowledge of the five food groups.
“I was like, ‘Well, it’s a big problem,'” Otto said. “So I went into a really aggressive teaching of the food groups and why we eat different colors and what they do to feel our bodies and how they help our bodies.”
Her new role as PE instructor became a fusion of her gen ed background and personal lifestyle. Otto is a fitness fanatic. She said her own children grew up helping cut vegetables on Sundays, are familiar with shopping around the outside of a supermarket and an active lifestyle is a habit she’s always followed. Her goal became instilling that pattern in her students.
“I just think it’s important to teach kids that you can have a balance. So I always tell them, ‘Eat the cupcake, but have an apple first.’ Front load it with something healthy, you might not have room for the whole thing,” Otto said. “And it’s good to enjoy these things. But you don’t have to have those all the time, just have a balance.”
In her classes, she teaches the kids to move. The 5-, 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds leave sweating and worked — which is where her lesson on fuel comes into the picture. Otto shows the kids through exercise that it’s hard to ask the body to work without giving it what it needs.
“They need to be able to give their body what it needs, to sustain what they’re being asked to do. And then have energy once they get back to class to not crash,” Otto said. “My thing is, kids are always told bring a healthy snack or grab a healthy snack. But do they really know what healthy is? What does that mean?”
Last fall, Otto applied and awarded a grant from the Fuel Up to Play 60 in collaboration with the NFL. She received a brand new set of snack carts and coolers. The only problem was that the healthy snacks didn’t come with them.
“(The students were) like, ‘When are we going to put food in those?'” Otto said. “I’m like, ‘I’m trying, buddy. I’m working on it.'”
By working on it, Otto meant she had written a persuasive essay and applied for Family Fare’s One School at a Time grant in August. She learned this month taht she was chosen as one of the monthly winners of the $1,000.
“This was my first big check. So I’m really excited, the kids are excited. My goal is to have fresh fruits and vegetables in there for them,” Otto said of how she’ll use the money. “Some things aren’t gonna be practical but whatever I put in there, it’s gonna be better than Oreos and Flaming Hot Cheetos.”
Otto hopes that through the support of organizations like Family Fare and the lessons of fitness and nutrition she’s giving her students each day, that the small choices they’re making by picking up a banana off her snack cart will create lifestyle choices that reach far beyond.
“Bottom line: Healthy habits last a lifetime,” Otto said. “And if I can establish them early with these babies, then I feel like I did a good job.”
Learn more about applying for Family Fare’s One School at a Time grant here.
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