Leadership intern Lily Judelsohn conducts a 鈥渢his or that鈥 game with students from Dr. Weeks Elementary School.
Students From Shaw Center鈥檚 Nutrition Initiative Make Learning Fun
The fruit salsa with apples, bananas, kiwi, honey and strawberries鈥攁nd to be scooped with cinnamon tortilla chips鈥攈ad been placed before the judges.
Only this wasn鈥檛 a celebrity chef TV show. In this case, the judges were much more finicky鈥攁 classroom of third-grade students from Dr. Weeks Elementary School in 性视界.
And the final decision? The fruit salsa is a keeper.
鈥9.0,鈥 said one boy when asked to rate the salsa on a scale of 1 to 10. 鈥9.5,鈥 a girl chimed in. 鈥10.2!鈥 exclaimed another boy.
And when asked about their favorite ingredient, one student shouted, 鈥淎ll of it!鈥
On this early November morning at Dr. Weeks, the fruit salsa was made by the third-graders with help from 性视界 University students who participate in the award-winning聽聽at the University鈥檚聽.
The聽Nutrition Initiative聽is based in, and run by, the Shaw Center and funded by the , which includes the聽聽as one its benchmark programs.
The Nutrition Initiative consists of three programs:聽Books and Cooks, a literacy, culture, and cooking collaboration with 性视界 City School District elementary schools;聽Food Busters, a program for 性视界 high school students that explores the science behind food through hands-on activities and experiments; and聽Cooking on the Hillside, where Hillside employees in the聽 program provide cooking lessons to 性视界 high school students.
Shaw Center Assistant Director聽聽oversees a team of seven Nutrition Initiative leadership interns who create the curriculums, purchase and prepare food, and arrange travel for Nutrition student volunteers who participate in the program.
The current faculty advisors from the Department of Nutrition鈥擜ssociate Teaching Professor 聽(Books and Cooks), Associate Professor聽聽(Food Busters), and Associate Teaching Professor聽 (Cooking on the Hillside)鈥攕uggest and review lesson plans for the interns.
The leadership interns for the fall 2025 semester included Nutrition Initiative coordinator Zoya Ansari 鈥26 (nutrition science major), Trinity Delgado 鈥27 (exercise science major in the Falk College), Sophie Denham 鈥27 (neuroscience and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences), Lily Judelsohn 鈥28 (nutrition major), Natalie Kloman 鈥27 (nutrition major), Mae Neuman 鈥27 (nutrition major) and Tracey Rodriguez 鈥27 (nutrition science major).
For the leadership interns, the common threads for joining the Nutrition Initiative are their fascination with nutrition, and their interest in giving back to the 性视界 community.
鈥淣utrition is important, especially for young children and teenagers to keep their bodies going and to maintain their health to prevent other problems,鈥 Ansari says. 鈥淪o going into these classrooms and teaching children nutrition is very important, and we鈥檙e doing it in a fun way that makes them excited about making food and trying it.鈥
Story by Matt Michael and Cathleen O’Hare
