When students don’t have access to quality nutrition, their health declines and they’re more likely to drop out. A recent study at Southeast Missouri State University found that 33% of students met the criteria for food insecurity. SEMO Nutrition and Dietetics and Higher Education Administration students recently joined forces to change these statistics.
A 2022 study at the University of Florida found that 62% of food insecure students don’t use on-campus food pantries due to stigma or other reasons, so we decided to sell these kits as a healthy, convenient option to fuel up leading up to final exams.
In the University Center, students could choose from a buffet of healthy snacks during Common Hour on the Wednesday before finals and at the Towers Late Night Breakfast on the Monday of finals week. Students received over 400 snack kits during this distribution period.
The kits were designed by Dr. Charlotte Cervantes’ Introduction to Food Science students. The kits included a QR code that directed students to a site containing nutrition information developed by Dr. Joel Ramdial’s Nutrition and Health Education students, as well as college health podcasts recorded by his students and my Higher Education Wellness students. The snack kits were funded through the college’s Interprofessional Education Grant and Giving Day Fund.
resource:
El Zein, A., Vilaro, MJ, Shelnutt, KP, Walsh-Childers, K., & Mathews, AE (2022). Barriers to university food pantry use and student-proposed solutions: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE, 17(5), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267341
Ramdial, J. (2022). The impact of nutrition and health behaviors on student academic achievement at a Midwestern public university. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]University of Missouri.
