2003 News Archive
More Than 1.5 Million Students Receive Positive Beef Messages at School
DENVER (November 4, 2003) – During the 2002-2003 school year, 1.6 million U.S. students learned about beef nutrition, food safety and environmental stewardship thanks to the widespread distribution of teachers’ resource materials by the Beef Checkoff Program.
A total of 53,994 school materials were distributed to teachers during the year, reaching the 1.6 million students. Promoted through the checkoff “Teachfree” website (www.teachfree.com) and through state beef councils, the education kits are made available to teachers of students from kindergarten through high school. The kits are also promoted through “Ag in the Classroom,” sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, and the “Project: Food, Land & People” program.
“We’re pleased that the checkoff’s teaching materials are so popular among teachers and are successfully reaching students around the country,” says Gary Sharp, chairman of the Joint Youth Education and Information Subcommittee. “The positive beef messages in the kits are coupled with valuable teaching strategies in subjects like math, science, health, and social studies that we believe teachers are finding useful in their lesson plans.”
Many of the education kits are free of charge to working teachers, and include everything needed to integrate beef education into a lesson plan. For example, most nutrition and food safety kits include a leader’s guide, video, activity sheets, posters and tests.
New this year was the popular checkoff-funded “Celebrate America” classroom video kit, which alone reached more than 230,000 kids. Designed to supplement social studies curriculum, “Celebrate America” provides students the opportunity to explore the foods and traditions of their own individual cultural backgrounds and gather information about how and when their families came to America. The kit includes a video, leader’s guide containing activity masters, and a full-color Food Guide Pyramid poster. “Lost in the Statue of Liberty,” the video component of the kit, received a “Telly Award,” one of the most sought-after awards of the television, commercial and video industry.
Each education kit contains an evaluation for teachers to complete. Of the surveys completed, 95 percent indicated a positive impression of beef, with 39 percent indicating that their attitudes about beef improved after using the kits. Fifty-five percent responded that they already had a positive attitude about beef.
“The education kits provide us with a proactive way to spread beef messages to school-age audiences,” says Sharp, a beef and dairy producer from South Dakota. “Based on the overwhelming response and positive feedback, we’re assured that these students are gaining valuable insights into beef nutrition, food safety, and environmental stewardship.”
For further information on obtaining education kits contact your state beef council or go to www.teachfree.com.
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