A simple lesson on heart-healthy eating recently has inspired one HISD educator to take students’ instruction a step further.
More than 1,300 HISD students at four elementary schools learned how to keep their hearts healthy during American Heart Month, thanks to a series of interactive nutrition activities offered by the district’s Nutrition Services department.
Three students representing Westside High School’s Culinary Arts Program won grand champion for the second year in a row at the Cooking Up Change Culinary Competition held on March 28.
Jalien Noel, Jose Acosta, and Briseida Salas wowed judges with a Cajun chicken with black bean hoppin’ John, Texas cabbage and greens, and pineapple turnover. Their winning meal will be featured on next school year’s high school lunch menu. The team will also travel to Washington, D.C. in June to represent Texas in the national Cooking Up Change competition against more than ten teams from across the nation.
With the nation’s largest school district food production facility, Houston ISD Nutrition Services has a lot on its plate preparing more than 270,000 meals each day for delivery to schools across the greater Houston area. Continue reading
Nutrition Services representatives (L-R): Glenn Topfer (vendor liaison), Amanda Oceguera (nutrition manager), Angela Olige (chief administrator), and Audene Chung (senior administrator) accept the award on behalf of the district.
HISD’s Nutrition Services department was recently recognized for supporting agriculture in the Lone Star State. The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) presented it with a “Cream of the Crop” award on Jan. 8 for the district’s commitment to sourcing food locally.
Each year, the TDA challenges schools to use more Texas products in the meals they serve during National School Lunch Week and recognizes those who complete the challenge.
HISD served nine menu items that were locally sourced, including milk from Oak Farms, apple juice from Cal-Tex, and tortillas from Kurz.
“Our vision is to create more recipes from scratch, sourcing the ingredients and menu items locally to not only provide wholesome meals for our students, but also to support the Texas community,” said Audene Chung, senior administrator of Nutrition Services.
This was the district’s second year of recognition. HISD Nutrition Services was also presented with the Grapefruit Award for completing a local products challenge last year.
Students, faculty, and staff at Wheatley High School celebrated the grand opening of their new U.B.U. Lounge on Jan. 22. The cafeteria now features three dining stations, Custom Brothers, Tortilla, and Home Zone and students had the opportunity to sample items from all three.
“The food being sampled is good,” said Wheatley senior Mwyinika Heard. “I didn’t eat lunch at school much before, but I will start, if they are serving these items. The food is more flavorful than it has been in the past.”
The dining stations were designed to provide menu variety and offer students the ability to customize their lunch experience.
“Students at Wheatley participated in a taste test that helped us select items for the menu,” Nutrition Services Senior Administrator Audene Chung told attendees. “You provided your feedback and we listened. Our goal is to bring you items that you want to eat.”
Twenty-five Haidian District educators from Beijing continued their visit to Houston and HISD as Lanier Middle School administrators introduced the delegation to the “Friendship State” of Texas on Jan. 26. Principal Felicia Adams opened the campus tour and program with an entertaining game in which the guests learned fun facts about Texas. Student artwork featuring pandas and Chinese messages and a chamber orchestra greeted the visitors.
Larry Graham and Missy the cow show students where milk comes from.
Graham and L.P. Voskamp are instructors for the Southwest Dairy Farmers Mobile Dairy Classroom, an outreach program that teaches children about the dairy industry. Elmore Elementary School students recently learned how dairy foods contribute to good health, the anatomy of dairy cows, and how the milking process works. They also got to meet Missy up close. Continue reading
Elementary schools throughout HISD celebrated Thanksgiving a week early by inviting families to enjoy lunch together.
Students and their relatives feasted on turkey and gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potato cake, and other traditional dishes.
Take a look at photos from several HISD schools:
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Last year, HISD’s Nutrition Services department launched a pilot program at a handful of campuses to increase the selection of fresh fruits and vegetables available to students in the cafeteria at lunch.
That program was so successful that the district has expanded it this year, and a total of 26 HISD schools now regularly offer a fresh fruit and vegetable bar. Continue reading
HISD has been working with the Houston Food Bank for years to provide non-perishable, kid-appealing, nutritious foods to students who are at high risk of food insecurity or are chronically hungry over the weekend. About 2,100 district students from 62 schools receive bags of donated food each week through the Food Bank’s Backpack Buddy program.
Now, that program is slated to become even easier for campus administrators and staff, as HISD’s Nutrition Services department will begin delivering the food bags directly to participating schools starting Nov. 17. Continue reading