Fall in the United States means two things: back-to-school and football season. But for Dairy MAX staff, it also means another year of Fuel Up to Play 60 is beginning.
In early August, Dairy MAX’s school marketing consultants were busy leading school in-services across the state, going through the program and giving teachers and school administrators a step-by-step introduction of the Six Steps that make up Fuel Up to Play 60.
Macey Fitzgerald, school wellness consultant for Dairy MAX, says this helps schools get off on the right foot at the beginning of the year.
Once the first bell rings, schools that have signed up for the program will receive back-to-school kits for the program adviser and the student team. The kits are chock full of free resources that make six step completion and student engagement a breeze.
“This school year, the back-to-school kit includes a large dairy farm to school poster for them to hang in a common area, and there's a postcard that details how they can use the free dairy farm to school curriculum to help them check off their six steps,” Fitzgerald says. “The curriculum includes four lesson plans, some fun videos and activities so they can learn more about how their favorite dairy foods get from the farm to their plates.”
One change to this year’s kit - increased tracking and feedback.
Last year, Fitzgerald says, the lesson plans were all on thumb drives included in the kit. While it worked great, it was a challenge to know which schools were using them or what they thought about the curriculum. That’s why this year’s Dairy Farm to School curriculum is available to download for free from the Dairy MAX website. Each Program Advisor enters their school information to access the curriculum, which allows Dairy MAX to know more — and improve future efforts.
“Feedback is very important to us,” Fitzgerald says. “We want to know how effectively we're reaching our audience.”
