Cooking Class Helps Students and Families

Students from Sonora Middle School, from left, Anahi Arroyo, 12, Christian Beltran, 12, and Xitlalhy Gomez, 13, skin chicken Wednesday in the Cooking Matters after school program at the school in Springdale.
Students from Sonora Middle School, from left, Anahi Arroyo, 12, Christian Beltran, 12, and Xitlalhy Gomez, 13, skin chicken Wednesday in the Cooking Matters after school program at the school in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE — Some students at Sonora Middle School help their families make healthier food choices because of what they learned in an after-school cooking class, officials said.

The class teaches up to 15 children in a six-week session how to eat healthy on a budget, said Kim Smith, counselor and Cooking Matters for Teens class coordinator. The students are eligible for free or reduced price meals at school and their families get help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. About 85 percent of the school’s students are eligible for free or reduced price meals.

At a Glance

Class Overview

• Kitchen sanitation

• Kitchen safety

• Ingredient substitution

• Measurements and conversions

• Using a knife

• Reading a recipe

• Nutrition labels

• Shopping on a budget

Source: Staff Report

“Any step you can make toward a healthy diet is a step in the right direction,” said Larry Crutchfield of the educational program. He is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program administrator for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The program provides help with food for families in need, according to the program’s website.

Many of the families in the assistance program have a mindset they can’t have good food because it costs a lot, said Linda Chappell, a Washington County extension agent who helps community groups and schools with nutrition.

“They have access to limited resources,” Smith said of her student’s families.

Many of the children took home what they learned and helped cook for their families, Chappell said.

“We reach the parents by what we do with these kids at school,” Chappell said.

Students in the class can also influence their parent’s food purchases by suggesting healthier foods, Crutchfield said. It may be easier for teens to make suggestions because of their maturity level and the credibility they gained while growing up, he said.

Evelyn Capacho, a sixth-grader at Sonora, taught her family how to make fruit salad after learning how in class, she said.

Ebony Hernandez, another sixth-grader, said she wants to be a chef when she grows up. She also took recipes home to share with her family, including quesadillas which, she said, they loved.

“They love the food that I’ve cooked them at the house,” Ebony said.

This year’s Cooking Matters for Teens class was a trial run, Smith said. Next year school officials plan to continue and expand the class, she said.

“It’s going to become a permanent part of our after-school program,” Smith said.

While there was only one class this year, the school will have three classes next year and will be able to accommodate 45 students, Smith said.

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