RECENT STORIES

Local Curves offer free breast self-exam kits ( Diane Rumbaugh )
Caduceus Club makes Disney encounter ( Celine Petrossian )
Construction to start on new senior center ( valleynews .com )
Armenian Genocide descendants sue British company ( Diane Rumbaugh )
Glendale Friendship Games coming up ( Atineh Haroutunian )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Glendale \\ Stories \\ Education \\ General Education

GCC partners with Dept. of Education, Nutrition

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Wendy Grove on 5/30/2008

Glendale Community College is lead community college In the California Department of Education's "Starting Right in the Child Nutrition" program.

In light of the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity in children, and in an effort to meet the increasing imperative for school and child care food service personnel capable of producing healthy meals, the California Department of Education (CDE), Nutrition Services Division (NSD), recently developed a statewide instructional program for entry-level school, child-care and after-school program food service staff.

Glendale Community College was selected as the primary partner of the state for this venture, and was awarded a contract for this purpose.

During the the week of June 2-6, the CDE's NSD will kick off the first phase of its project known as "Starting Right in the Child Nutrition Program," with a four-day long seminar, hosted and organized by Glendale College's culinary arts department.

During this event, a course titled "Healthy Cuisine for Kids," developed by the National Food Service Management Institute, will be instructed to a select team of professionals, including chefs, food service directors and dietitians representing various school districts and community colleges in California.

Under the leadership of GCC's culinary staff, the newly trained teams will subsequently disseminate the information in their respective school districts throughout the state.

Topics of the course will include an overview of food service operations, basic culinary skills with a hands-on approach, safe food handling as well as nutrition and health related issues such as levels of fat, sugar, sodium and fiber in children's diets.

This two-tiered approach to training is the first step toward the state agency's ultimate goal - the establishment of a new career ladder for the child nutrition profession in California with a framework of incremental steps in education and job responsibilities.

It is anticipated that Glendale Community College's partnership with the CDE will continue beyond this initial endeavor to include the development of a more comprehensive curriculum leading to a college certificate or a degree in child nutrition.

This will make GCC a permanent center of education for careers in child nutrition in California.

Given the excellent prospects of the positive impact it can have on the health status, growth and cognitive development of millions of California children through this enterprise, the culinary department at GCC is looking forward to exciting times to come.

For more information about this project,call Sona Donayan, MS, RD., lead community college coordinator and nutrition instructor in Glendale Community College's culinary arts department, at 818-240 1000, ext 1114.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story