NEWSROOM

Interactive exhibit teaches children about nutrition

By April Wilkerson, The Journal Record

Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories on creativity in business, education and the arts in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host the World Creativity Forum in November.

OKLAHOMA CITY – With today’s youths facing medical issues once found only in adults, the need to teach them about healthy lifestyles is greater than ever.

One approach comes with a little fun: guiding students through an exhibit that features everything from a “cool cafe” with healthy foods and portions, to a maze through the digestive system.

“Farm to You,” a walk-through display, spent the day Friday at Stanley Hupfeld Academy at Western Village. The 40-foot-by-40-foot enclosed exhibit was created by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service along with the Oklahoma State University Department of Nutritional Sciences, Oklahoma State Department of Health and Southwest Dairy Farmers.

“The exhibit has a message that we can’t repeat enough,” said Susan Ward, a nurse practitioner at Stanley Hupfeld Academy. “Our school also has a focus on healthy lifestyles, so we repeat the message several ways. With childhood obesity and younger kids getting diabetes, it’s very important.”

“Farm to You” takes children to places like Cheeseburger Farm and the Healthy Cool Café to learn about good nutrition and proper portions. Then they walk through an opening in the maze – “the mouth” – and meander through the intestines, making stops to learn about the skin, bones and muscles. They end the trek by learning about hand-washing and looking for germs on their hands under a black light.

“It’s hands-on and visual, and that’s good for kids. They’re hearing, but also seeing, the message,” Ward said.

Ward runs the academy’s clinic, along with two other free clinics in Oklahoma City. She said she enjoys the school setting because she also interacts with the students’ parents and counsels them about healthy lifestyles. Many of the families are single parents with stressful lives, she said, and 90 percent of the children receive free or reduced lunches.

Because the clinic is at the school, parents can bring their children before school if there’s a problem, and if the child really isn’t sick, then his classroom is just down the hall, she said.

Some of the volunteers at “Farm to You” were employees of Integris Health. The namesake of the school, Stanley Hupfeld, is the former CEO of Integris. He took an interest in the school and helped turn it around when it was floundering. The school was recently renamed for Hupfeld, and his picture with dozens of smiling children features prominently in the office.

“Mr. Hupfeld had the idea that every child can learn if they’re given the proper tools,” Ward said. “The school has really turned around.”

“Farm to You” is off to its next elementary school. Dietitian Diana Romano, the state coordinator for “Farm to You,” said she travels to all corners of the state with the exhibit. In two years, she’s been to 46 counties and helped 30,500 students go through the exhibit.

The “Farm to You” project cost about $500,000 to create, which includes a van for its transport and Romano’s salary. That funding covered three years of travel for the exhibit, and the final year is under way.

“We’re looking for more funding so we can keep the program going,” Romano said.