The Challenge

Unhealthy eating habits due to poor choices, low-income opportunities and inadequate access to nutrient-dense foods result in a poor health and low academic performance. Inadequate nutrition is reflected in low protein intake, iron deficiency, and ability to fight diseases. Students with poor protein intake have low scores on achievement tests, iron deficient students suffer from shortened attention span, and difficulty in concentration, fatigue and irritability. Moreover, children who skip meals, especially breakfast, lack problem solving skills, and have insufficient body capabilities to fight infection illness. Consequently, inadequate nutrition leads to academic failure and may result in students dropping out of school which severely affects education and future chances to succeed in life.

As childhood is a time of critical growth and brain development, proper nutrition is absolutely essential and necessary. For that reason, a lack of food or inadequate eating patterns are significantly responsible for short and long-term health diseases. Children affected with prolonged nutritional deficiency are at greater risk of obesity, failure to thrive academically, and mental and emotional health problems. Consequently, children with poor nutrition are more prone to miss school and repeat grades since there is a connection between improper nutrition and low IQ levels. As a result, malnutrition may inhibit the ability to develop social skills that are necessary to maintaining friendships.  Maintaining healthy friendships may positively affect the lives and children well into adulthood.

The Opportunity

Creating an adequate nutrition plan in low income public schools to directly impact students’ eating habits, combined with an educational program for students’ parents will allow us to effectively attack academic challenges associated with poor nutrition. Additionally, efforts to educating children and their parents about adequate eating patterns will allow us to reduce the risk of developing health problems and disproportionately gain weight. This in turn will positively affect the development of low-income communities and will increase understanding of the importance of nutrition in a child’s life.

The lack of academic resources can be traced back to inadequate governmental education funding of public schools. Many low-income students, especially those in rural areas, are without the basic means necessary to attend school. The inability to access fundamental academic resources such as books and state-mandated online courses are a daily challenge for many students.  In many cases, public schools also lack skilled teachers who can teach the minimum requirements in the core subjects of arts, language, physical education, science and social studies.  As a result, the public education system suffers from low levels of learning and low academic achievement in economically-deprived areas. Lastly, extremely poverty-stricken schools are forced to work with obsolete resources such as outdated computers, books, supplies, laboratories and inadequate classroom space. The absence of classroom technology diminishes the availability of an enriched learning experience and the opportunity for high academic performance.

The Opportunity

The solution is within our capabilities. Investing in academic resources increases and improves learning opportunities for low-income students when resources are allocated effectively. Hence, students will improve their intellectual gain and academic achievements in the long term.