I.

Transmittal Letter

December 12, 2018

Center of Disease Control

Office of Financial
Resources 1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30329-4027

Dear Sir or Madam,

My team and I are excited to submit the enclosed proposal, ​Apple Crunch Day: Farm to
School Education in Utah Schools. ​The proposed project is designed to help elementary
students increase daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, meeting a goal of Healthy People
2020. We believe that Farm to School programs and initiatives like Apple Crunch Day will
have a positive effect on students increased adherence to to the Healthy People 2020
guidelines, the National School Lunch Program guidelines, and overall health. The proposal
requests $54.61, for the month long project.Our proposal is enclosed below

If you need additional information or have questions, please contact

me.

Sincerely,

Jacqueline Swarbrick, Jessica Fife, Cami

Jones, and Kelley Krage
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Utah County Health Department
151 South University Avenue Provo, UT
84601
II. Title Page

Project Title: ​Utah Apple Crunch Day at

Noah Webster Academy
Grant Program: ​Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
Proposed Start Date: ​September 28, 2018
Proposed End Date: ​October 12, 2018
Funds Requested: ​$54.61

Team Members:
Jacqueline Swarbrick:

Cami Jones:

Kelley Krage:

Jessica Fife:

Project Collaborator:
Carrie Bennett, MPA, CHES
Utah County Health
Department 151 South
University Avenue Provo, UT
84601
Phone:
[email protected]
E-mail:801-851-7035
III. Project Summary

The rise in childhood obesity is concerning to many and has been connected to the low intake
of fruits and vegetables among school-aged children. Studies have shown an increase in fruit
and vegetable consumption in correlation with implementation of Farm to School programs.
The overall goal of this project is to increase awareness in elementary school children and
motivate them to eat locally sourced fruits and vegetables. We will accomplish our goal by
implementing a Farm to School initiative at Noah Webster Academy. McMullin Orchard will
donate one apple for each student, as well as enough apples to be used for taste-testing among
the class. A lesson plan will be developed and taught along with the apple tasting. Each
student will then be given an entire apple to eat as part of the official National Apple Crunch
Day activity. The number of students biting into an apple that day will be totaled and used to
compete against other states in the country. The impact of this program will be evaluated by a
show of hands when asked the questions: 1) Who enjoyed the apples that you tasted today;
and 2) Who will buy more local produce? The number of hands raised will be counted by a
member of our team. Since we only have the resources to personally implement this program
at one school, it is difficult to measure the impact it will have over the long-term, but by
focusing on individual children at this specific school, we hope that information and interest
in local produce, and fruits and vegetables in general, will be maintained. ​By receiving
donated apples from a local farm and educating children on the benefits of choosing fresh,
locally produced fruits and vegetables, our project highlighted several advantages of eating
locally.​ Relationships will be built and recorded so that more local produce can be used by
schools in the future. The budget request is $54.61.
IV. Grant Narrative

IV.a. Needs Statement

Lack of fruit and vegetable consumption is an ever growing issue in elementary

school-aged children (1). In an effort to reach two of ​Healthy People 2020​’s goals, to “reduce the
proportion of children and adolescents who are considered obese” and “increase the variety and
contribution of vegetables and vegetables to the diets of the population aged 2 years and older”
(1). The intention is to educate students on the importance of including fruits and vegetables (f/v)
in their diet and the benefits of locally grown produce. Education as part of a Farm to School
program will help increase children’s willingness to try more local produce (2).
In past years, rates of childhood obesity have been rising alarmingly (3). There are many
possible causes and potential solutions to the obesity problem. Increasing the intake of healthy
foods, including f/v will help decrease childhood obesity (4). Farm to School programs can help
increase the intake of f/v in children. The Farm to School programs can include providing local
produce for schools, education on nutrition and local farming, and student gardening (5). There
is an increase of produce intake by students in schools that implement Farm to School programs
including educational programs (5). Students will have more exposure to local produce through
gardening and education on nutrition and local farming (6). Utah currently has limited resources
for schools and school districts to assist Farm to School programs (7).​ ​The proposed Farm to
School program will provide the school with resources to carry out other programs
independently. The school staff will see the effects of a Farm to School program, encouraging
them to pursue other Farm to School programs in the future.
The education extended to students regarding nutrition and the role f/v play in their
overall health is an essential aspect of the implementation of Farm to School programs. A study
performed in Illinois among 65 elementary school students, in an area known to have poor
education and lower income status, surveys were conducted before and after a Farm to School
intervention (8). After two nutrition lessons and a farm tour, the students’ knowledge of
vitamins, minerals, and fiber were increased, and an improvement of f/v consumption was later
observed after the farm to school program was implemented (8). In addition, studies have shown
that implementing garden-based Farm to School programs not only increases the students’
knowledge and consumption of f/v, but a high percentage of the observed schools see academic
improvements as well (9).
Farm to School programs can include multiple types of educational experiences, these
can included lessons, in class activities, gardens, food sampling and tours of local farms. Using
several aspects of Farm to School educational programs to expose children to new produce and
educate on nutrition topics will enhance the students overall experience with the Farm to School
program. Research has shown that when the staff and students are educated on Farm to School
principles, they are more likely to participate in the Farm to School program (9). In addition,
Farm to School programs have directly impacted students’ diets by, “reducing overall plate
waste” and increasing F/V consumption (10). These programs have exposed elementary school
children to produce they haven’t seen before. The children become dramatically more willing to
try the new produce (11). The overall effect is a higher consumption of F/V in elementary school
children (9).
The state of Utah has limited resources for schools as they implement Farm to School
programs. Resources for Utah include, Utah’s Own Farm Fair, a showcase of local cheese
makers, beekeepers and growers. Provo School District Child Nutrition has made connections
with farmers within 20 miles to provide produce (7). Noah Webster Academy, is a charter school
and is not associated with the Provo School District. As with many charter schools, Noah
Webster is a small operation that can easily apply Food to School programs to their school. Noah
Webster does not currently have any Food to School programs in place. They offer a salad bar
with the provided lunch, however the produce is not locally grown. They wanted to implement
nutritional education to their school. By assisting the school in Apple Crunch Day, the school
becomes aware of existing Farm to School programs. The school witnesses the implementation
of a program and experiences it effects first hand.
By incorporating educational elements to Farm to School programs, students will have
more experiences and gain knowledge to help them live healthier lives. By increasing awareness
of locally grown produce to the students of Noah Webster Academy in Utah County, they will
learn about nutrition and local farming. Students will gain exposure to local produce through
samples of different varieties of apples. The education portion will increase their willingness to
try the apples. By creating a fun and interactive environment for the students to learn about
nutrition they will be empowered to make choices in the future to better their health by eating
fruits and vegetables. The proposed program meets the mission of the CDC, in fighting disease
[through prevention] and supporting communities (12).
IV.b. Project Goals & Objectives

Team's selected agency: Utah Apple Crunch, Noah Webster Academy

Target population for your community project: Elementary School first grade students at
Noah Webster Academy.

Goal(s) for your community project:

Increase awareness in elementary school children for eating locally sourced fruits and
vegetables.
Outcome Objective(s) for your community project:
- Give all first grade students at Noah Webster academy an opportunity to try three
varieties of apples provided by McMullin orchards, during an in class lesson.
- On October 17, the kids at Noah Webster will be become more aware of health
benefits of local produce. They will also become more interested in the local
produce. This will be measured using a “post lesson survey” and plate waste
analysis of snack provided with survey.

Process Objectives for your community project:

- Our team will schedule a time with a school to present lesson to first grade classes
by September 25th.
- Based on number of students at school, the team will provide enough apples for
each student to have one by October 17th.
- Our team will create a lesson plan about the benefits of local farming and
nutrition of apples and local produce.
- We will teach one lesson, created by our team, to the first grade students at Noah
Webster Academy on October 17th.
- One month after the lesson our team will administer a “post-lesson survey”and
give a snack to the same 66 first grade students of Noah Webster Academy during
class time.
- The ‘post lesson survey” will measure to see if knowledge of nutritional benefits
and interest in eating local produce is retained.
IV.c. Project Methods

This project has four primary phases: determining project specifics with Utah County
Health Department and choosing a local school where we can implement our program; creating
an informative and interactive lesson; implementing the lesson and Apple Crunch Activity and
measuring student participation; and returning to the school a month later for another evaluation.

Meeting with the Utah County Health Department and local school. T ​ o begin this process, our
team met with a director at the Utah County Health Department to solidify our role and learn
how we could best help them meet their objectives. We contacted Carrie Bennett, and decided
we would be most effective and influential by helping a local elementary school participate in
Apple Crunch day. We’ve chosen Noah Webster Academy Elementary School, specifically their
three first grade classes, to participate in the education and Apple Crunch Activity. We registered
the school for Apple Crunch Day. We will provide a lesson and activity to increase the first
grade students’ awareness and knowledge of local produce.

Informative and interactive lesson. ​We will plan and prepare a lesson about locally grown
apples. The lesson will go over the different parts of an apple, the nutrition benefits of fruits and
vegetables and what buying local produce means. The lesson will help the students understand
the importance of eating local produce. Two of our team members will give a lesson to the first
grade students at Noah Webster Academy, while the other two prep for apple tasting and the
Apple Crunch activity (to be described later).

Apple Crunch Activity.​ As part of National Farm to School month, schools in Utah County are
participating by initiating an Apple Crunch Day. Registration is completed individually for
schools and classes. Before Friday, October 12, the first grade classes at Noah Webster Academy
will be registered for the event. On the day we scheduled to go to Noah Webster Academy, two
of our team members will give our prepared lesson to the first grade students, while the other two
prepare for apple tasting and the Apple Crunch Activity. Each student will be given three
samples of apples to try before the main Apple Crunch Activity. We will then give each student
their own apple, which they will simultaneously bite into on cue. Each student’s bite will
represent a greater awareness among youth of local produce and its benefits. Following the
lesson, a series of questions will be asked to the first grade students to evaluate the effectiveness
of our program. The students will volunteer to answer by raising their hands..

Second Evaluation A​ month following this Apple Crunch Day, our team will return to Noah
Webster Academy to administer a survey and a snack containing local produce. We will analyze
the answers provided in the survey and we will also measure plate waste. More information
about our evaluation plan is described later in the proposal.
IV.d. Evaluation Plan

We will evaluate our first process objective by documenting in our records which school
was chosen to participate, what time we were scheduled to present, how many apples we were
given, an how many apples were left over at the end of the presentation. This information will be
documented by members of our team. We will determine whether or not the educators taught the
full lesson by assigning one team member to observe the lesson presented to the first graders at
Noah Webster Academy. They will compare it to the lesson plan prepared. This team member
will document if all of the material is covered in the actual lesson presented. We will also
evaluate whether or not every child received an apple by asking if any child did not receive an
apple. If any child raises his or her hand, they will be given an apple. After the lesson, a team
member will measure plate waste of apple samples and record the percentage of students that
tried each kind of apple. This will be an accurate way of evaluating if every child was able to
taste the apple samples. To evaluate the post-lesson survey, our team will return to Noah
Webster Academy a month after implementing the Apple Crunch Day to administer the
post-lesson survey during class time. A team member will count post-lesson surveys to know
how many of the 66 children completed it. Recording this number will be our way of evaluating
if we received all the results of the post-lesson survey.

Our impact objectives will also be evaluated and the results will be recorded. At the end
of the lesson, we will ask for a raise of hands to collect the number of students who tried a new
kind of apple. The team members not directly teaching the lesson will count the number of hands
that are raised and record it. This activity will evaluate whether or not students became aware of
different apple varieties. At the end of the lesson, the children will be asked to recall the
nutritional benefits of produce and the benefits of local farming. Students will be asked a series
of review questions regarding the nutritional benefits of produce and the importance of eating
local foods. The team members will listen and record the answers given by students. The
answers will then be further evaluated to see how well they fulfill the desired learning objectives
stated in the lesson plan. This will evaluate whether or not the students learned about the
nutritional benefits of produce and the benefits of local farming. At the end of the lesson,
students will also be asked if they want to eat more local foods. The team members who do not
provide the lesson will count the number of hands that are raised and record the results. This
activity is directly connected to our project’s intermediate outcome and will evaluate if kids will
choose to eat more local produce because of our intervention.

Our outcome objectives will also be evaluated. In a post-lesson survey distributed a

month after our presentation, children will be asked about benefits of local produce and will be
able to recall information from our presentation. Our team will administer the survey and analyze
the results to evaluate the students’ retained knowledge of the benefits of local produce. Our
team will also provide a snack of local produce, which will be given to children along with the
post lesson survey. Our team will measure plate waste to calculate how many children were
willing to try the local produce. This will continue to evaluate our intermediate project outcomes.
IV.e. Sustainability

The program is focused on supporting local farming through purchasing local produce.
To make this program sustainable we purchased local apples. This will help build a relationship
with a local distributor, which can provide apples for us the following year. We will also have
the state Apple Crunch Handbook, which is updated every year by Utah State. Keeping a record
if the schools is interested in participating the following year will conserve time next year in
finding schools interested in participating in the program.
V. Budget & Budget Narrative

Direct Costs

A. Personnel Wages
a. Student volunteer: The position is not paid, rather volunteer and not paid,
equaling $0.00. The responsibilities include: designing the program, contracting
schools, creating the lesson plan, presenting the lesson and preparing materials for
lesson.
B. Materials and Supplies
a. Lesson Materials: (i.e. Costs of apples and supplies to serve apples).
b. Apples: donated for free
c. Cups for apples: Estimated @ $1.50/50 pack x 2 packs = $3.00.
d. Knife and cutting board: Estimated @ $17.00 (11.00 for cutting board + 6.00 for
knife).
C. Travel
Mileage to school ($.26/mile x 1 trip x 11.6 miles average round trip = $3.03)
D. Total Direct Costs:
E. Total costs for A through C above equal $26.02.

Indirect Costs
Indirect costs equal $5.20 (20% of total direct costs).

Total Cost
Total direct and indirect costs equal $31.22 ($26.02 + $5.20).
VI. References

1. Healthy People 20220. Nutrition and weight status.

https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/nutrition-and-weight-status/
objectives​. Accessed December 12, 2018.

2. Jarpe-Ratner E, Folkens S, Sharma S, Daro D, Edens NK. An experiential cooking and

nutrition education program increases cooking self-efficacy and vegetable consumption
in children in grades 3-8. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2016;48(10):705.e1.

3. Center for Disease Control. Childhood obesity facts.

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html​. Accessed December 12, 2018.

4. Center for Disease Control. Childhood obesity causes & consequences.

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/causes.html​. Accessed December 12, 2018.

5. Yoder AB, Liebhard JL, McCarty DJ, et al. Farm to elementary school programming
increases access to fruits and vegetables and increases their consumption among those
with low intake. J Nutr Educ Behav . 2014;46(5):341-349.

6. Berezowitz CK, Yoder AB, Schoeller DA. School gardens enhance academic
performance and dietary outcomes in children.​ J Sch Health.​ 2015;85(8):508-518.

7. National Farm to School Network. Utah profile.

http://www.farmtoschool.org/our-network/Utah​. Accessed December 12, 2018.

8. Thompson OM, Twomey MP, Hemphill MA, et al. Farm to school program participation:
an emerging market for small or limited-resource farmers? J Hunger Environ Nutr.
2014;9(1):33-47.

9. Izumi B, Alaimo K, Hamm M, et al. Farm to School Programs: perspectives of school

food service professionals. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014;42(2):83-91.

10. Landry AS, Lingsch KJ, Weiss CM, et al. Barriers and possible facilitators to
participation in farm to school week. J Child Nutr Manag. 2015;39(1):1-6.

11. Knopp J, Abarca-Orozco S, Israel G, et al. A plate waste evaluation of the farm to school
program. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2018;50(4):332-339.

12. Center for Disease Control. Mission, role and pledge.

https://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/mission.htm​. Accessed December 12, 2018.
VII. Appendices

Time Chart
 Project Materials

Lesson Title​: Apple Crunch Day

Time (min):​ 10 min.

Target Audience​: First Graders at Noah Webster Elementary School

Lesson Overview ​This lesson will cover the questions:

What are the different parts of an apple?
Why are fruits and vegetables good for you?
What does it mean to buy local food?

Lesson Preparation ​66 local apples, 2 each of 3 different types of apples, making 6 total for
tasting (For 66 total first graders). Sampling cups, cutting board, knife, bag for trash and waste.

Lesson Objectives​ Students will gain awareness of eating local foods.

Introduction
Time (min): ​1 min.
Ask: Who knows how apples grow? Raise your hand if you think they grow in the ground. Raise
your hand if you think they grow on trees.

​ ontent Outline
C
Teacher explains the different parts of an apple.
Teacher describe why eating fruits and vegetables are good for students.
Teacher defines “local” and importance of eating local produce.
Students will taste different kinds of local apples.

Learning Experience #1
Time (min): ​3 min.
Show an apple cut in half and talk about each part of the apple:
So since apples grow on trees, there has to be something that connects the apple to the tree (point
to the stem). ​Ask: Does anyone know what this is called?​ The stem helps bring nutrients to the
apple so that it can grow into a big juicy apple for us to eat!
Once the apple has the nutrients, we also get those nutrients when we eat fruits and vegetables.
They are good sources of vitamins and minerals.
So on the inside, this whole part is called the core and core holds the seeds. The seeds are
important because they allow new apple trees to grow!
This part is called the flesh! This is the yummy, juicy part that we like to eat!
This part is the skin and it helps to cover and protect the flesh and the seeds

​ earning Experience #2
L
Time (min): ​2 min.
Ask Raise your hand if you know what it means to buy local apples.
Local means that these apples are from a farm in Utah that is pretty close to us!
Ask Why is it good to buy local food?
It doesn’t have to travel as far and doesn’t have to be picked as early so it tastes fresh and
yummy
Good for the environments because food doesn’t have to travel far
It is really important that we buy food from the farmers that are close to us in Utah so that they
have money to keep farming and growing food!

Learning Experience #3
Time (min): ​2 min.
Explain that you will pass out samples of 3 different kinds of apples. Depending on allotted time
and behavior of the students, you can have them eat the apples one at a time, telling them what
the apple is called before they eat it. Then have students raise their hand to vote for which one is
their favorite.

Closure
Time (min): ​2 min.
Ask Who liked the apples that you tried today?
Ask Who is going to eat more local foods now that you have tried these yummy apples?
Pass out whole apples and instruct them to all bite into them at the same time for apple crunch
day!

References
Mellino C. 10 Reasons Why You Should Eat Local.
https://www.ecowatch.com/10-reasons-why-you-should-eat-local-1882029859.html​. Accessed
October 8, 2018.

The US Apple Association. Apples: A Class Act.

https://ohioapples.com/pdf/p-3_teachersguide.pdf​. Accessed October 8, 2018.

Wallin L. A Is For Apples.

https://www.agclassroom.org/teacher/matrix/lessonplan.cfm?lpid=374&lesson_states=UT&auth
or_state=0&search_term_lp=apples​. Accessed October 8, 2018.