Laura Steabner and her fourth and fifth grade Quest program students decided they wanted to analyze the lunch foods. They started at the beginning of the school year by a looking at how healthy the chicken nuggets. Their research lasted throughout the school year and ended with a presentation of their findings to the school board on May 14.
The Quest program is for highly gifted kids. They have scored in the 95% or higher range on the MAP testing. In Quest, some kids skip ahead in some subjects.
“They also get some enriched classes. In socials studies they still learn the same concepts, just in a different way that is more challenging,” said Steabner.
The project the kids did for the school board was part of a larger project. They did something called “Challenge Based Learning.” This is where the kids present a topic and then look for issues surrounding it.
A small group of kids, Noah Zimmerman, Tucker MacCallum, Tommy Samson, Sarah Burke, Gabby Hernandez and Kaitlin Galdonik, wanted to do a presentation for the school board about school lunches.
“They analyzed lunch menus, did a survey for students in our school and even kept a chicken nugget to see how it would change,” said Steabner. “The chicken hasn’t molded or rotted at all and they have had it for over two months.”
After this, the principal has had many emails from parents about school lunches. Nothing has changed yet, but the students are hopeful for the future of school lunch.
