Cass Junior High Students Just Say “No” to Unhealthy Snacking

While watching the students purchase snacks during lunchtime at in Darien, Amy Pollitz became frustrated.

The social science teacher and lunch supervisor noticed students were choosing items such as chips, cookies and fruit snacks over healthier options such as a piece of fruit or even string cheese.

Back in her classroom, Pollitz set her students on a project analyzing the number of calories and grams of fat in many of the popular lunch snacks they consume on a daily basis.

How difficult was it to get her students to do the work?

Not hard at all, according to Pollitz.

“The kids were very open to researching facts about the snacks here at Cass,” she said. “Students are more health-conscious these days than we give them credit for.”

The research proved to be quite an eyeopener for the students, as many found out just how unhealthy some of their snack choices were.

“They were surprised to learn that in cookies or bags of chips, it was that many calories or grams of fat,” said Susan Paszkowski, public relations liaison and sixth-grade science teacher at Cass.

The sixth-graders completed the research and presented their findings, some in the form of a PowerPoint presentation complete with video clips of classmate interviews on snack choices, and others on posterboard with suggestions for alternatives to fruit snacks and chips.

“Students did find that many of the snacks may contain less calories, but the food is not providing sustainable energy,” Pollitz said.

For instance, some students were sometimes purchasing two to three snacks each, such as cookies or bags of chips, to fill up.

“Which when added to their lunch puts them close to their daily allotted number of calories—just for lunch,” Pollitz said.

Through their research, students learned that healthier snack alternatives could include cheese, fruit, trail mix and protein bars.

“The problem the kids saw with the current snacks is that it is false advertising,” Pollitz said. “Selling baked chips and whole wheat cookies may sound healthier and (have) less calories, but these items still contain high fat/sodium/sugar levels.”

For instance, students found a 1.125 ounce bag of Baked Lays, which contains about 15 chips, is 120 calories and has two grams of fat and 135 milligrams of sodium. Pollitz noticed because the bags were so small, many students would purchase two.

A Fruit Roll Up is 50 calories, and has one gram of fat and seven grams of sugar. The healthier alternative, a granola bar with 25 percent less sugar, is 90 calories and has two grams of fiber and is made with zero high fructose sugar.

After all of the findings were presented in class, most students agreed if healthier choices could not be provided, there should be a limit of one snack bought per day.

Since working on the project, Pollitz has noticed the amount of students choosing to purchase unhealthy snacks “has significantly dwindled.”

“I don't think students realized how quickly calories can add up, but then again, neither do a lot of adults,” she said. “Hopefully, students can make better choices now that will benefit them later.”