Healthy food is good food by Calvin

Healthy food is good food by Calvin - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

Nutrition in schools is an issue I have seen and want to change. I appreciate having the access to fresh produce in my community. MacPherson’s Fruit & Produce is within a 30 minute walking distance from my house and I am able to buy groceries with relative ease. Even in a diverse and sometimes challenged community, MacPherson’s offers a wide variety of produce that caters to even the pickiest eaters. Without MacPherson’s, my neighborhood would be considered a food desert.
Nutritional food is much better than junk food; it is generally more healthy, provides last-longing energy compared to junk food, and can prevent serious health problems. I can vouch for this because I used to eat poorly. During my elementary and middle school years, I would eat school lunch and would feel irritable and lethargic. I couldn’t focus on the curriculum, and things seemed hazy and distorted. I asked my fellow students and they agreed; they also had similar issues! Even though MacPherson’s is nearby, we were not getting nutritious food at our school.
Cleveland STEM High School provides free and reduced lunch for students who qualify. Although it provides a meal for many students, they’re not nutritious. A salad bar is offered but many students steer clear from the salad as it often oxidized and that causes it to look unappealing. This leads students to stick with their pizza, hamburgers, and fries that offer little to nutritional value from the school cafeteria.
Vending Machines are placed around the school for students and staff alike to purchase whatever they need. However, many of the snacks are unhealthy and loaded with salt as they contained high amount of sodium. They give you a quick high and a long crash.
If I were to be given a $10,000 grant, I would make sure the vending machines at Cleveland and other schools served packaged nutritious snacks, so that students would be much more likely benefit from them. These snacks would fill nutritional gaps for students, promote healthy habits, including fueling student’s appetites of their need for learning. I would even look into creating partnerships between stores like MacPherson’s and local schools to ensure that students are getting nutritious meals.