PHH Service Learning Spotlight: Husky Reads

by David Andrew, second year biological sciences major, pictured above

As a member of the Public Health House Learning Community, I have had the opportunity to get involved with a number of different service programs and groups. One of my first and most affecting involvements was with Husky Reads, a program that puts UConn students in preschools and community centers (such as hospitals or action agencies) to teach young children about nutrition and healthy living through reading books, playing games, and leading fun and educational activities. The goal of this program (and more detailed information can be found on their website) is to promote positive attitudes and health literacy in the children, so to empower them to make healthier decisions and reach better health outcomes.

During our training we watched a video in which children were challenged to identify some different fruits and vegetables. When the host held up an eggplant, I was able to identify it without even thinking. The children in the video didn't fare quite as well. No, it was not a potato, corn, french fries, or as one child repeated adamantly, "Potato Salad". Increasing basic health literacy and food knowledge was a key theme running beneath all of our books, activities, and games. We identified vegetables, body parts, bones; we brought exotic snacks for the kids to try (Hummus?!?!?); we analyzed the food pyramid and identified its components; we dyed ranch dressing green and purple with food coloring so the kids would try it; we jumped, danced, crawled, and most amazingly, sat quickly and quietly at attention.

The program targets low-income families living in urban or economically disadvantaged environments, including Hartford and Willimantic. My site during the fall semester was a preschool in Hartford operated by the Salvation Army. The students at this school were almost universally from low-income and minority families, living in one of the poorest cities in the nation with a notorious food desert problem. (In our LC INTD course we had learned about nutrition-related health disparities and the effects of food deserts and poverty on health outcomes.) Therefore, we understood the factors at play in this environment and the potential beneficial impact of our actions.

Every week, my partner and I would teach our lesson to classrooms 2 and 4, and by the end of the semester we knew the kids by name and habit. It was thrilling to see one child's progress from the first to last week, from refusing to talk (let alone try the snack), to talking incessantly, hugging my knees repeatedly and without warning, and making a total mess (and eating some) of the snack. Our kids came out of the semester knowing the food pyramid like pros, trying new foods, and bragging that their mother or father had brought home this or that vegetable the other day, as opposed to french fries or macaroni and cheese. In addition to challenging me in very new ways and expanding my perspective, the experience was also incredibly fun and heartwarming.

• We read a book about a "Veggie Monster", and then shortly thereafter they began to refer to me, at 6'4, as the Veggie Monster.
• I bargained with children to get them to take a bite of a carrot stick.
• I pretended to love carrot sticks.
• I got to talk at length about Spongebob and illustrate why he's a positive role model.
• I colored with pink and purple crayons and refused to concede them as girls' colors.

It was fantastically rewarding to say goodbye to those kids knowing that we had made some difference, or at least that we had planted a seed in their minds, that they might remember their "UConn Friends" with the Husky t-shirts and the friendly smiles. If these kids ever once asked for milk instead of soda, or tried a new food, or chose to be up and active because they knew it was good for them, then my friends and I had achieved something real and meaningful.