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Impact Report

For plan Youth Development (Socorro County)
Date September 25, 2008, 2:39 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Sarracino Middle School Nutrition Course: The 4-H Agent has utilized the USDA’s The Power of Choice and youSELF curriculum which teaches youth to make healthy eating and fitness decisions. Ever other Friday, 6th and 7th grade Home Ec students participate in a 10 week series that is designed to help young adolescents understand how their decisions about eating and physical activity can affect their health now and for years to come. Topics and activities included: It’s Up to You!, Get Up and Move, Helpings vs. Servings, Are you Label Able?, Tastes Great, Less Fat!, Make Drinks Count!, Snacks: “Chews” for Health, Your Fast Food Order?, Urge to Splurge?, and What’s New?. Three hundred ninety-five 6th and 7th grade students completed The Power of Choice course spring semesters. HEALTH: Living • Healthy Lifestyle Choices- Youth learning how to each right and stay fit through physical activities. HEAD: Thinking • Decision Making- Youth learned how to make good decision about what they eat and much physical activity they need to stay healthy. Managing • Goal Setting- Youth learned how to set goals regarding their future and how they will use the information they are learning in the class. HEART: Relating • Accepting Differences – Youth learned that not everyone looks the same, some of us are short some are tall some are big some are small but inside we are human beings and we should all be treated with the same respect. Evaluation: The Socorro County Power of Choice program is a school- aged program for youth in 6th, 7th and 8th grade enrolled in a Home Economics class. This program is for 10 weeks during the school year. The program, sponsored by NMSU Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development program and Sarracino Middle School is held every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month during class time. Each youth attends an average of 10 hours of programming. Three hundred ninety-five youth attended the program this year (168 males and 227 females). One hundred twenty-one were Caucasian, fifty-two were Native American and two hundred twenty-two were Hispanic. The Life Skills Evaluation System was used to assess life skills learned in the program. The Life Skills Evaluation Instrument has been tested and is valid and reliable for youth and adult programming. The instrument uses a retrospective pretest/posttest and was administered during the last meeting. Three hundred eighty-two of the three hundred ninety-five youth registered for the program were in attendance at that meeting and completed the evaluation form for a response rate of 97%. 83.5% of the participants made gains from pretest to posttest. As measured by this self-report, the youth made gains in knowledge and behavior of the life skills in the areas of Decision Making, Accepting Differences and Healthy Lifestyle Choices. Decision Making – 88% of the participants reported a gain in “List my options before making a decision”. 75% of the participants reported a gain in “Think about what might happen because of my decisions”. Accepting Differences – 72% of the participants reported a gain in “Treat people who are different from me with respect” and 66% of the participants reported a gain in “Have friendships with people who are different from me”. Healthy Lifestyle Choices- 96% of the participants reported a gain in “Make healthy food choices” and 88% of the participants reported a gain in “Choose activities that promote physical health and well being”. Finally, we asked the youth open-ended questions about what they liked and disliked about the program. When asked “The most important thing I have gained from attending the Power of Choice program is . . .” 135 responded with being able to read a food label; 160 responded learning the difference between a helping verses a serving, and 59 responded learning how to eat healthy. We also asked “What was your favorite things about the Power of Choice Program” and 92% of the respondents said THE SNACKS!! Overall, our Power of Choice program was a success. In self-reports youth were found to have made gains in the life skills from pretest to posttest.