Newswise — As part of an inspiring collaboration focused on giving back to the community, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has partnered with Apple Seeds, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote healthy living through horticulture education, to provide students with valuable hands-on experience.
Through this partnership, students from the University of Arizona Little Rock’s Health Education and Promotion program interne at Apple Seeds to teach school children the basics of nutrition, foster healthy habits and equip them with the culinary skills to prepare nutritious foods.
“This partnership began with my Community Health Organizations class,” said Dr. Janea Snyder, associate professor of health education and promotion at the University of Arizona Little Rock. “The students completed 20 hours of community service with Apple Seeds, and it was a very positive experience for both the students and the organization.”
UA Little Rock has signed a memorandum of understanding with Apple Seeds to provide students with health education internship opportunities that align with the focus areas of their university’s degree programs while also supporting their desire to give back to the community.
“This partnership will provide a great internship experience for UA Little Rock health education students, give Apple Seeds additional support to serve the community, and most importantly, educate our youth about gardening and healthy nutrition,” Snyder said.
For more than 15 years, Apple Seeds has created programs to educate and inspire young students about healthy eating in Northwest Arkansas, which consistently ranks in the top five states nationwide for diet-related illnesses and food insecurity among children. The nonprofit is expanding into Central Arkansas, offering its programs in Pulaski County for the first time in the 2023-24 school year and now serves eight schools in the region.
“We want kids to have an experience growing vegetables in their garden, learning about where their food comes from, how to prepare healthy food, and want to enjoy and incorporate vegetables into their meals,” said Shanley Powell, Apple Seeds’ central Arkansas program manager. “We just finished our first year in central Arkansas and are so excited about it. Over 2,200 students participated in our first school year, and next year we hope to expand the number of schools we visit to further spread the joy of healthy eating in Arkansas.”
During the spring semester, three students from the University of Arizona at Little Rock served as interns through May, working 200 hours during the semester. Their work included teaching students in kindergarten through fifth grade about nutrition, healthy eating and gardening. The interns assisted Powell with lessons, cooking demonstrations and tours of Oak Forest Community Garden, a 1.2-acre, organic-focused community garden in Little Rock.
“It’s been amazing to see the interns take on leadership roles in some of the classes and engage with the students,” Powell said. “We’re excited to partner with UA Little Rock and hope to have other students join us. It’s been a great first year seeing the growth in our students. The interns have been an integral part of leading the cooking classes. The students are learning life skills like how to chop vegetables, read recipes, and incorporate reading, writing and math skills into their classes.”
The healthy recipes students make vary by grade level but include garden salsa, kale chips and delicious green smoothies.
“I enjoyed interacting with students as a hands-on intern and learning new recipes,” said Natalie Amos, a fourth-year health education and promotion major. “It’s also great to see how I can apply my degree in the real world. I’m currently looking for a new job and can’t wait to jump in. Through this internship, I’ve learned how to multitask, problem-solve, and work with and entertain kids. It was a great experience.”
During the field trip to Oak Forest Community Garden, students tour the gardens and learn how to harvest and wash vegetables and plant seeds.
“Our program focuses on increasing students’ exposure to vegetables,” Powell says. “These touchpoints increase their willingness to try vegetables. When we create a recipe, 98 percent of students try it after going through all the steps to prepare the recipe, and many of them end up loving it. We expose students to new vegetables and increase their willingness to try them. In the case of our third graders, after making a recipe with kale at school, 77 percent of students wanted to eat kale again, which is great.”
Sam Pickard, a senior from Jacksonville majoring in health education and promotion with a minor in sport management, said the best part of the internship was seeing the joy on the kids’ faces as they cooked and learned about nutrition at school and in the garden.
“Through this internship experience, I learned that health education like Apple Seeds has so many opportunities to make a difference in our community, and it was really great to be a part of this experience,” Picard said. “Apple Seeds was such an amazing experience, and if you’re looking for an internship opportunity, this is the place to go.”
Natalia Thayne, who will graduate in May 2024 from Little Rock’s Health Education and Promotion Program, enjoyed working with the school’s culinary and farm lab programs during her internship.
“The best part of my internship was working with the kids and seeing their faces light up during class,” Thane said. “It was so gratifying to know that I was making a positive impact on young minds through nutrition.”
Thayne’s experience with Apple Seeds has allowed her to develop leadership skills and teach families important information about nutrition and healthy eating.
“The most valuable thing I learned from my internship was how to be a leader,” Thane said. “This internship gave me confidence I never had before. I learned how to keep moving forward and maintain a positive attitude, even when faced with challenges that are beyond my control. Apple Seeds has given me and my family a better education in nutrition, and my mom hopes to start her own vegetable garden in a few years. I will cherish the memories I’ve made at Apple Seeds forever.”
