Healthy Changes Meet Student Resistance at Clarke Central

Marah Lidey

Brooke Cochran

Teen Story Article

Original: October 20, 2009

Revised: November 17, 2009

Sally Jabbie strolled through the long line in Clarke Central Highschool's cafeteria’s snack shop, picked up a bag of Doritos and a coke and kicked up her feet to relax with her friends.

That was last year. This year, Jabbie drags through the cafeteria line and reluctantly grabs a single cup of unsalted green beans, a small portion of chicken and rice casserole, a side salad of greens and light ranch, and carrots. Then she sits with her friends and stares at her untouched food.

The Clarke Central junior has strong feelings about the new, healthy menu the school is serving.

“We can’t have drinks or snacks or vending machines. We can only have vending machines that have water and diet drinks. I want Gatorade sometimes and all we get is diet,” said Jabbie.

According to a 2006 report by the CDC, the percent of overweight and obese teens has increased from 10 percent in 1994 to 17.6 percent in 2006. Furthermore, in Ga., 18 percent of high schoolers are overweight and another 14 percent are considered obese. With these soaring rates of obesity among teens and young adults, high schools around the country are striving to provide healthy foods for their students.

“Obesity is certainly a national trend,” said Clarke County Nutrition Coordinator Angela Garcia. “In teens, it leads to major health problems such as high blood pressure, heat disease, and even diabetes. Schools are trying to prevent obesity from continuing in the direction it is going.”

In efforts to make a change at Clarke Central, a new “Wellness Policy”, created in May 2006 by the Clarke County Board of Education, sets high standards for the type and variation of food that the students are allowed to consume in school. School nutritionists say they are no longer able to use salt and sugar in the making of foods, and the school only provides dessert one time a week.

“Give us salt!” cried Jabbie over the loss of this seasoning due to the new Wellness menu.

Despite not being able to use salt in the foods, the high school employs other ingredients to replace the inexpensive additive:

“Butter is the main ingredient we use,” said Carolyn Adams, a food assistant at Clarke Central High. “We don’t use any salt or sugar but we use lots of butter, and tomato sauce too.”

These strict limitations on food are not restricted to Clarke Central. Many schools are implementing healthier food policies and menus that limit the amount of sugar and fats that students have access to. A 2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report stated that the average number of schools that sold candy or salty snacks high in fat dropped from 54 percent in 2006 to 36 percent in 2008. Also, the percentage of schools that took soda and sports drinks out of school vending machines increased from 37.8 percent to 62.9 percent.

Though Clarke Central changes are part of a national movement for healthier food, the high school has gone far beyond many others in their attempts to limit unhealthy foods.

“Even manufacturers have stepped up and changed their products so we have better access to healthier products. They began producing more products with whole grain and higher fiber wheat,” said Garcia.

The high shool even has a nutritionist to create each menu plan.

Katja Stookey, the School Nutrition Manager says, “Our nutritionist analyzes every meal, every week,” said. “We make sure the kids have the right dietary mix of protein, carbs, fat, and things like that each week.” Stookey is in charge of monitoring the kitchen and all the food the students eat.

When asked how she thought Clarke Central teens might be feeling about these new changes, Stookey replied, “we do not give them candy and the biggest complaint we hear is that the portions are too small.”

Many teens, like Jabbie, however are frustrated that they are being told what to eat and are not able to make their own decisions.

“It’s just always the same thing. The least they could do is let us leave for lunch sometimes,” professed Kelly Lissimore, a junior at Clarke Central.

Lissimore and her friends sat around the lunch table pondering the issue of what needed to be changed in the school’s nutrition plan. As if it were the first time someone had asked them that question, they looked around at one another and in consensus replied, “everything.”

One teacher, however, saw a creative way to meet the students’ needs for additional food options while providing them with a useful marketing experience. Vickie Shell, a marketing teacher at Clarke Central, designed and founded the Glad Shack- a small convenience store sitting inside the school cafeteria. The Glad Shack once provided everything from Fuse energy drinks to Doritos to football memorabilia.

The Glad Shack was a way in which students strived to bring a different flavor to Clarke Central. The shack provided all of the food the students wanted, and the food that they were not able to get from the cafeteria because of the Wellness Policy.

Students say that extra food options created a more upbeat atmosphere in the school cafeteria, and by deciding themselves what foods were in high demand each week, and needed to be purchased they were also learning useful real world marketing skills.

Jabbie explained, “the Glad Shack was the best! They had the best stuff and everyone was happy. The line would wrap around the school to get the food and stuff,” said Jabbie. “Now they shut it down ‘cause it doesn’t match with the Wellness program. Now the Glad Shack just sells T-shirts and hats. No one goes in there any more”.

Students say school officials made the decision to close the Glad Shack this past April “They said it was too much competition for the cafeteria. Nobody was eating school lunch because they were coming here,” exclaimed student and Glad Shack worker Renelle Kinson, referring to the small shop.

Now all that is to be found in the once buzzing school shop are a few lonely T-shirts, a shiny silver refrigerator and microwave that sit empty and unused.

Despite the strong discontent of the students met by the new “Wellness Program”, school officials say that the goal is ultimately to help the students and to promote better eating habits.

The struggle against adolescent obesity continues as schools across Ga. and the nation develop programs similar to that of Clarke Central. However, even though they are often unpopular and met with complaints from students, the schools’ efforts are made in hopes to help students live better, healthier lives.
“Its a step in a positive direction,” said Garcia. ‘”There is always room for improvement but we are teaching the kids to be healthy and exercise and make life-long healthy decisions.”