Jul 1, 2020 | News
Last week, AccelerateED Task Force released its final guidelines to assist school districts in navigating the coronavirus pandemic and reopening schools across the state. The Task Force took into consideration that not all school districts are the same and plans will vary. They also took into consideration public comment and recommendations from professionals like SCDHEC and Eat Smart Move More South Carolina.
“After reviewing the draft guidelines, we felt it was necessary to stress the importance of the nutrition and physical activity component of the well-rounded student, especially during uncertain times like we’re experiencing today,” says Meg Stanley, executive director of ESMMSC. “As stated in our letter to the Task Force, good nutrition and physical activity can help students feel better, perform better, and reduce anxiety, as well as reduce risks of contracting communicable diseases.”
Stanley also informed the Task Force that local chapters, coalitions, partners, and members are being encouraged to get involved in local task forces for reopening schools. ESMMSC chapters and other healthy eating and active living groups and advocates can play a large role in their local task forces by encouraging local leaders to:
- Prioritize equity by recognizing that not all areas within school districts have the same resources; and use unemployment, poverty, and food insecurity data to direct resources in an equitable manner.
- Consider physical education as a core component to the educational experience and provide students physical education regardless of using a traditional, hybrid, or e-learning model; and incorporate physical activity throughout the day for staff and students.
- Maintain the evidence-based best practice of scheduling at least 20 minutes of daily recess for grades K-5.
- Maintain, when feasible, the state mandates outlined by the South Carolina Students Health and Fitness Act of 2005, including scheduling at least 150 minutes of physical education (at least 60 minutes) and physical activity (at least 90 minutes) a week for grades K-5.
- Maintain healthy standards for meals and snacks served as outlined by the United States Department of Agriculture; and utilize resources for elevating standards of food served to meet best practices and standards, such as those outlined by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.
“Now more than ever, grassroots advocacy in the local education setting plays a pivotal role in the reopening of our schools and in providing safe and healthy atmospheres for students,” says Stanley. “This is the time for parents, teachers, public health professionals, and our coalitions to get involved in their local education task forces and to make their voices heard on shaping education during a pandemic.”
Contact your local school district for more information about your local task force. Use the resources below to help frame your advocacy messages.
ESMMSC Recommendations
SCDHEC Recommendations
SC Dept. of Education Reopening Plan
Jul 1, 2020 | Community News, Mini-Grant Success News, News, The HYPE Project
How do you serve breakfast to students when the campus is large and spread out and breakfast in the cafeteria just isn’t cool? You take the food to the students. That’s what students involved in The HYPE Project, teachers, and cafeteria staff did during the 2019-2020 school year with a Let’sGo! 3.0 mini-grant from Eat Smart Move More South Carolina.
According to nationwide studies, breakfast participation is a struggle at many schools, and White Knoll High School is no different. At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, only 7% (140 students) of the student population (2,000 students) ate breakfast at school. Why?
- Students arrive late and miss the breakfast window.
- Students aren’t hungry at 7:30 in the morning.
- Students are social and prefer to meet up with friends.
- There is a stigma associated with eating breakfast at school.
- The campus is large and spread out, so the cafeteria is out of the way.
“Students need well-rounded, nutritious meals to get them to the lunch hour, and that can be pretty late in the day for some students,” says Kelly Blevins, food service manager at White Knoll High School. “Sure, White Knoll has vending machines, but we all know they don’t have the healthiest choices.”
The consequences of going hungry in the morning or choosing sugary or salty vending machine food and beverages equal poor classroom performance, poor test scores, and poor behavior. By eating breakfast, those indicators can be easily turned around.
Second Chance Breakfast, aka Fast Break
Second Chance Breakfast is a nationally tested and proven program that offers a breakfast break in the morning, often after first period for older students in secondary schools. Food carts are strategically placed throughout the school stocked with healthy breakfast options for students, faculty, and staff to purchase by swiping their student ID card. Blevins heard about the program from Lexington School District One leadership and thought it would be worth the try.
With district leadership on board, Blevins needed to get support from faculty and staff, which she did; however, the most important stakeholders she needed approval and support from were the students. Enter Public Health Teacher Amber Morris, MPH, and her public health students.
Center for Public Health and Advanced Medical Studies
Lexington School District One provides students with opportunities to prepare for careers in specific areas through the Centers for Advanced Study. Located at White Knoll High School, the Center for Public Health and Advanced Medical Studies is a three-year, six-semester program in which students spend two blocks each semester of their sophomore through senior years exploring public health and medicine.
Teacher Amber Morris, MPH, is actively involved in the public health profession. Through her contacts, she learned about the Eat Smart Move More Lexington County chapter. At a meeting, she learned about The HYPE Project and the Let’sGo! 3.0 mini-grant opportunity, so she applied to fund a HYPE team. After learning about the Second Chance Breakfast program from Blevins, the two teamed up with public health students to plan and launch the Fast Break program at White Knoll High School.
“When Amber came to me and told me that her students wanted to help us, I was excited. It was great to see that these girls knew and understood that nutrition is one of the most basic things you need to cover and so they helped make it their own, which is great,” says Blevins.
Blevins had already purchased four food carts, so the HYPE team decided to use part of their mini-grant funding to purchase a fifth cart, which meant more access to the stations and more students served.
“Our latest lunch is at 1:30 p.m., so if you can’t have breakfast in the mornings, you’re probably going to be pretty hungry by the time lunch comes around,” says Zoe, a 17-year-old student and HYPE team member. “So, we wanted to provide for those students who got there a little later or who weren’t hungry at 7:30 in the morning.”
Blevins also teamed up with the digital arts classes for logo and food cart graphics design. “It was incredibly important to me to let these kids know the program is for them. Their teacher was so wonderful to help us out. It didn’t seem like too big of an ask. They created the Fast Break logo and the vinyl wrap for the carts.”
Youth Voice is Powerful
If breakfast isn’t cool in the minds of teenagers, how do you get them to even consider breakfast at school? You use your existing partnership with the HYPE team and the digital arts students to spread the word. The students took ownership of the Fast Break program.
To get community and student buy-in, the HYPE team planned a taste test during the Town of Lexington’s Kids’ Day community event and at freshman orientation. With the help of Blevins, Morris, and some key partners, the HYPE team met at a local commercial kitchen and prepared yogurt parfaits prior to both events.
“The Dairy Alliance is a huge supporter of our project, and they provided all of the yogurt, and Senn Brothers provided the strawberries,” says Morris. “The Town of Lexington didn’t charge us for the space at their event.”
On coordinating space at the Kids’ Day event, 17-year-old Tayla says, “It wasn’t too difficult. I went to the Icehouse Theatre website to find the contact information. I emailed the contact and introduced our group and our project. He was all for it. It was a lot of fun interacting with the people, and it was a good social experience.”
At freshmen orientation, the all-girl HYPE team presented the Fast Break program to the new students and their parents. They manned one cart and provided healthy food samples. This was an effort to educate incoming students on the program and prepare them for what to expect in high school.
The team also helped with the kickoff, which was planned in September shortly after the school year started – a strategic move that allowed time to promote the program and prepare students.
“We wanted to get started, get the students acclimated, and then do a big opening. On the day of the kickoff, we had everyone from Lexington One Food Service come out. Sara (a HYPE team member) contacted the media and invited them to attend. We did a lot of promotional activities to prepare the students,” says Morris.
A New Breakfast at White Knoll – Flip or Flop?
September 16th rolled around, and the students and cafeteria staff were ready. According to Grace, “It wasn’t popular in the beginning, but now I know a lot more people who are using it. It really increased in popularity and use as time went on and people learned more about it.”
Grace went on to explain that students appreciated the Fast Break stations and reported back to her that it allowed them to think better in their classes. Blevins also mentioned positive feedback from teachers. Some teachers reported students weren’t complaining about being hungry or asking for a snack.
Seventeen-year-old Shavey says, “I remember on opening day, a lot of students were excited about it and kept asking their teachers when it would open. It was extremely popular.”
The Fast Break program received overwhelmingly good reviews, and the data speaks for itself. “We went from serving 7% (140 students) of the student population in September to serving on average between 26% and 27% (520-540 students) of the student body prior to school closing due to the coronavirus,” says Blevins. “Most of that (the purchases) was happening during that Fast Break time, so we were really happy with that jump in participation.”
The cafeteria also experienced an increase in breakfast purchases during their 7:30 a.m. breakfast service. Blevins explained that in the past, not all of the breakfast items were purchases. Since the Fast Break program, some items in the cafeteria were being sold out. Perhaps, the stigma associated with eating breakfast at school was lifted for many students.
Planning Makes Perfect
The Fast Break stations were open to any student, faculty, or staff member, and cafeteria staff only had a 15-minute window to serve and swipe ID cards. A lot of strategic planning happened prior to launching the program, from food packaging and classroom trash can capacity to station placements and timing.
The cafeteria remained open during the Fast Break time, so students in the vicinity could dash in and buy breakfast items. Students on free or reduced lunches are only allowed to purchase one breakfast, so if they ate during the 7:30 a.m. breakfast and were still hungry at 9:45 a.m., they were required to purchase food with cash in the cafeteria.
Due to time and technology, cash, debit, and credit cards were not accepted at the food stations, but there’s a solution for that! Parents could add money to the students’ cafeteria account, giving them the opportunity to swipe their student ID card and pay for a Fast Break breakfast.
A New Perspective
Remember the district-wide program the Center for Public Health and Advanced Medical Studies? Sara, an 18-year-old public health student enrolled in the program, is a student at River Bluff High School. She was taking public health classes at White Knoll High School and was a member of the HYPE team that worked on the project.
“I feel like I learned a lot because I do go to River Bluff and it’s on the opposite side of town as White Knoll. I didn’t know there were that many people on free or reduced lunch (30%+) and that breakfast was an issue because I don’t see that at my home school as much just because of where I live,” says Sara. “So, doing this project helped me see what actually happens and how there are so many different sides of things. I felt honored to do this because I was able to help that part of the community that I go to half of the day. You need to help everyone in your community, not just those in your school because we all live in the same area. I live in the same district, but it’s so different.”
What’s Next?
Through the HYPE Project and the Let’sGo! 3.0 mini-grant, public health students had a huge impact on the lives of fellow students. They were able to implement a project that fed more students, improved classroom attitudes, and reduced stress.
Everyone involved in executing the Fast Break program is excited about the next steps for the program. Neighboring Gilbert High School heard about White Knoll’s success and they plan on implementing the program there.
“It’s been awesome to see how this program has grown into a huge project,” says Zoe. “It’s actually going to be implemented at Gilbert High School because it’s been so successful here. I’m really proud of it. It’s kind of like my baby, my child.”
According to Morris, the goal is for the Fast Break program to be implemented in every high school in Lexington School District One. When that happens, eating breakfast will be the cool thing to do at school.
Wellness Wednesdays Video
Fall 2019 Kickoff Promotional Video
The Let’sGo! 3.0 mini-grant opportunity was made possible through a grant provided to ESMMSC by the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Jul 1, 2020 | News
A few months ago, Eat Smart Move More South Carolina (ESMMSC) embarked on a virtual journey to provide youth advocates with opportunities to participate in the annual Youth Summit, while enduring the coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Holding an in-person event is something staff knows how to do, but a virtual event was uncharted territory.
“We wanted to provide our youth advocates with a safe way to learn more about advocacy and coping with the pandemic and their mental health,” said Trimease K. Carter, youth engagement manager. “The Virtual Youth Summit also gave them something educational and engaging to do with their time.”
Carter worked with the Youth Summit Planning Committee to develop an engaging agenda that would capture the attention of not only youth, but also adults seeking more knowledge. Rather than asking registrants to sit behind a computer screen for an all-day event, the Committee decided to hold one-hour sessions over four weeks.
“We knew we would have to deliver an online Summit, and there were many tools to make that happen, so we decided to use an online streaming service that would allow us to broadcast live across multiple platforms,” said Carter. “We were able to broadcast all four sessions on our Facebook page and on our website, which provided an opportunity to reach more people.”
After planning, preparing, and practicing each session with all of the speakers, all four sessions were successful. Working with new technology had its challenges, and ensuring unobstructed internet connections were uncontrollable, however, going virtual was a positive move. Here’s a breakdown of what happened:
- Session One: COVID-19 and Coping featured DHEC’s Dr. Michael Kacka educating viewers on the coronavirus and how to maintain personal safety and health. The session also featured a panel of youth from across the state who spoke about how the coronavirus and the restrictions are affecting their lives.
- Session Two: Teen Advocates and Staying Healthy focused on the importance of choosing healthy foods and staying active, as well as a panel of youth and adults who talked about careers in public health and how participating in The HYPE Project has helped them personally.
- Session Three: Empathy and Self-Advocacy provided insight from ABLE South Carolina’s Dori Tempio and Asha Jones on how youth can make their voices heard and advocate for issues that are important to them.
- Session Four: Keynote Speaker Walter A. Clyburn Reed addressed viewers on how extraordinary circumstances create extraordinary people. Reed talked about current events, fighting for what is right, and being resilient. This session also featured a virtual talent show for youth from around the state to display their talents.
In the end, participation in the first-ever Virtual Youth Summit proved to be a success, as well as pulling off a live streaming the event. More than 104 viewers tuned in to the sessions with a total reach of more than 3,700 viewers so far. That number continues to increase as more and more people watch the videos on Facebook.
While the idea of hosting a live virtual event was challenging as a first-time endeavor, the Virtual Youth Summit seemed to be more of a success than initially anticipated. The experience for staff is leading to the possibility of future online learning opportunities for youth, and it serves as a back-up plan should the pandemic impede the 2021 in-person event.
To watch the sessions, visit our website. For more information, contact Trimease K. Carter, youth engagement manager, by email at trimease@eatsmartmovemoresc.org or by phone at 803-667-9810.
Jul 1, 2020 | Advocacy/Policy News, News
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service recently announced the approval of the SC Department of Social Services’ request to allow South Carolina SNAP recipients to use their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards for online purchases of eligible food items. July 31, 2020, is the anticipated date for this service going live in SC and, at this time, Walmart and Amazon are the only retailers authorized by USDA to implement online food purchasing in South Carolina.
SCDSS requested approval for the use of SNAP benefits for online food purchases to support social distancing practices recommended by public health officials to mitigate risks associated with exposure to COVID-19. The Department hopes that other retailers and independent grocers within the state will be able to gain authorization from USDA to participate by the end of the summer, which will support local businesses and help boost the state’s economy.
Finding healthy food options that fall within the USDA’s healthy food guidelines can be achieved by using the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Amazon store The Alliance has a wide range of health foods, snacks, and beverages to choose from and they all fall within the USDA recommendations.
USDA recommends utilizing other options that retailers may already provide, such as Pay at Pick-up (also known as “Click and Collect”), where SNAP cardholders can shop online and then pay for their purchase using their EBT card at pick-up. Grocery pickup is already an option that these retailers offer beyond SNAP so they are already thinking through how they can provide a safe environment to do so with the growing concerns around social distancing.
Temporary Healthy Bucks SNAP Incentive Increase
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many challenges for farmer’s markets, independent farmers, and some of South Carolina’s most vulnerable residents. In response to these challenges, the SCDSS has increased the maximum Healthy Bucks SNAP incentive amount to $15.00 until July 31, 2020.
The purpose of this temporary adjustment is to further combat food insecurity among SNAP recipients and to promote economic stability for Healthy Bucks vendors whose business has been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
To learn more about the Healthy Bucks program and to find a Healthy Bucks vendor near you, please go to schealthybucks.com to learn more!
Jun 2, 2020 | News
The wrongful deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and other black men and women have had a heavy impact on our coalitions, our partners, our staff and most importantly, the black community. These tragedies have sparked sadness, anger, fear, and a host of other deep-seated feelings. We acknowledge these emotions and want to publicly state that we are here to listen, empathize, support, and encourage action. We are committed to being a part of the work of ending racism.
For 13 years, Eat Smart Move More South Carolina has prided itself on working to create access to healthy foods and safe places to play for all South Carolinians, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, ability, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.
As we work towards sustainable changes in policies, systems, and environments that address systemic racism’s impact on health and health disparities, we strive to institutionalize equity into our processes and projects. Our core values support advocating and implementing long-term changes that give every single human being access to living a long, healthy life.
When things are unhealthy, unfair, inequitable, or wrong, it’s important to stand up and advocate for real change, whether you’re peacefully protesting, engaging in discussions with decision-makers and leaders, or using social media to organize and share resources. These actions, in addition to completing the 2020 Census, registering to vote, and casting your vote, are ways to make your voice heard and make change happen.
We will continue to expand our work to fight racism and ensure that all South Carolinians have access to a long, healthy life.
Apr 15, 2020 | News
In the public health world, our work focuses on improving the health of everyone in our communities regardless of race, gender, sexual identity, nationality, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, veteran status, age, physical ability, and many more expressions of identity. The work we do requires putting aside personal, political, religious, and other views to focus on the greater good of individuals and humanity.
Eat Smart Move More South Carolina staff recently had an opportunity to delve into equity, inclusion, and diversity by examining the root causes of our behaviors – how we were raised, how we think, and why we think the way we do. During three sessions of The Welcome Table, Jennifer Gunter, Ph.D., director, South Carolina Collaborative for Race and Reconciliation, and Latesha Murray, facilitator for The Welcome Table, led a discussion to understand and talk 
about racial divisions that have hampered unity and social justice. The Welcome Table is a safe place that fosters mutual respect, listening and learning from each other and are based on trust and perseverance. The discussions are also confidential.
One topic covered in the trainings was unconscious bias, the underlying attitudes, and stereotypes that people unconsciously attribute to another person or group of people that affect how they understand and engage with a person or group. For instance, we show a preference for people we are similar to in some way because we find them familiar and easier to relate to. 
This could be because of shared characteristics – such as class, ethnicity, or geography – or shared interests or hobbies.
At work, this could lead us to feel that someone is not talented, or not right for a role, because we don’t have the same characteristics or experiences in common. How do we fix this? Widen the work circle by working with a more diverse range of people and get to know them individually. This will help to improve cultural competence and lead to a better understanding of others.
Tackling equity issues requires an understanding of the root causes of outcome disparities within our society. Inclusion is the act of creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to fully participate. A diverse team is only part of what makes a more equitable workplace. Making sure that different voices are heard, that people feel respected 
and valued, and that they are in environments where they can do their best work, is where inclusion comes in.
Creating diverse teams – employees, committees, workgroups, boards, and other collective groups – is important for hearing ideas from people with different perspectives and experiences, which leads to more strategic work and outcomes in our public health work. Diversity can also foster stronger alliances, a more complete understanding of the issue being addressed, and improved collaboration to achieve a common goal.
For more information about The Welcome Table or to schedule a training for your organization, contact the University of South Carolina’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
