The Office of Nutrition and Food Services
DJJ and GPA promotes nutritionally balanced meals, a healthy lifestyle and supports Georgia Grown
National School Lunch Week: Snapshots of Wellness!
Celebrate School Nutrition
Georgia Preparatory Academy Schools celebrated the National School Lunch Week across the state, helping students to learn about “Snapshots of Wellness!” The program was the first wellness goal of the Georgia Preparatory Academy’s Wellness Program and was a great success! Youth participated in a weeklong series of activities celebrating and learning about physical, mental, economic, spiritual, and social wellness.
Youth Education
Wellness teams across Georgia worked diligently to create fun and exciting events to highlight all five snapshots of wellness. Events and activities allowed youth to learn about the importance of overall wellbeing while participating in art projects, sporting events, exercise classes, social games, meditative coloring, and presentations on financial accounts. Not only did youth enjoy fun activities, they also enjoyed stimulating conversations and interactions with staff.
Wellness Program Kickoff with National School Lunch Week
Overall, the second annual National School Lunch Week was a successful kick-off to the Wellness Program. High youth participation, a morale boosting and learning atmosphere and abundant staff involvement helped youth learn about the benefits and importance of overall wellbeing. We look forward to the upcoming Health Fairs around the state and creative ideas brought forth by the Wellness Teams!
Georgia Activities
Some of the many activities to take place around Georgia include:
- Demonstrations and exercises on how to fill out a check and banking basics
- Cognitive games with staff and peers
- Yoga and Zumba classes
- Naming different emotions for each letter of the alphabet
- Kickball game with staff
- Wellness Walk-a-Thon
- STD Awareness class
- Creating financial comic books
- And many more!
Beginning in SY14-15, school systems across the nation were required to meet tough new federal nutritional guidelines for school meals, ensuring that meals offered are healthy, well-balanced and provide students the nutrition they need to grow and develop. New regulations included calorie minimum and maximums, vegetable subgroups to provide a variety of color and nutrients, larger servings of fruits and vegetables, 100% of grain products that are whole grain, and reduced sodium maximums.
School meals continue to offer five components daily: protein, fruit, vegetables, grains, and milk. In addition to the basics, DJJ also strives to introduce new healthy foods and preparation methods to allow the students to think outside of their food comfort zone. Our school meals offer low-fat and fat-free milk options, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains that are kid-friendly and nutritionally sound. Now is the time to educate your child on how to select a healthy and balanced meal.
National School Lunch Week
As part of the Georgia Preparatory Academy’s Wellness Program, facilities statewide participated in National School Lunch Week, themed, “Snapshots of Wellness!” Youth and staff participated in a weeklong series of events that taught youth the importance of overall wellbeing. Some of the exciting events included banking basics presentations, guest servers at lunch, yoga and Zumba classes, inspirational art projects, and physical activity challenges such as the Iron Man Competition and kickball games.
DJJ held a Free Food Show on October 16th at the Central Office breakroom. Sample foods from Departmental facilities were prepared and served to employees.
Learn More - News and Views
