Students are Creating a Healthy Lunch Menu for Their District

Students are creating a healthy lunch menu for their district, and tastings are scheduled for later this month.

At Peaks Island Elementary School, students participated in a program called Clean Plate, which helped them to learn how healthy foods help the body. They were then asked to create healthy lunch choices.

According to lead teacher Renee Bourgoine-Serio, the Clean Plate initiative was possible with a $2,500 grant from the Portland Education Foundation. All students were involved, from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Peaks Island School is taking many steps to educate students about sustainable practices. With the Clean Plate initiative, the students in kindergarten through second grade explored how healthy food helps bodies grow and thrive. Grades three and four examined the question “Why do we need plants?” Fifth graders answered “How does the energy in food help us make healthy food choices?”

“Peaks students are very proud to know that other (Portland public school) students will be eating a healthy and delicious meal that they created,” Bourgoine-Serio said.