Keeping Kingsbridge kids healthy

A pasta salad made with orzo, tossed with veggies and dressed with Alabama white sauce,  was a hit amongst grade-school children at P.S. 207 on Friday. The green juice made with kale, ginger and pineapple? Not so much.

The food was part of the school’s annual health fair, coinciding with Every Kid Healthy Week. Started in 2013 by Action For Healthy Kids, the initiative is celebrated in the last week of April nationwide, when schools and organizations develop programming and activities to promote healthy minds and bodies in children. 

“We have a huge focus on social/emotional learning, to me it’s the nourishment of the whole child” said Tara Obrien, principal at P.S. 207. “In order to be healthy, we have to do everything.”

From BronxCare Health and Montefiore to KRVC – a local nonprofit with a focus on building strong community ties -- the school’s cafeteria/auditorium was set up with tables providing valuable resources to students and their parents.

But it was at the cooking demonstration where the kids were truly engaged. 

With a grant from the Department of Education, the school invited Harlem Grown to teach the students about sustainability and healthy eating through their urban farming program and with hands-on education.

Chef Jamie Rhoden pulled ingredients from her mobile teaching kitchen and spoke to the students about hydroponics, food history, cooking techniques and the importance of respecting other people’s tastes.

“We’re not here to yuck anyone’s yum,” she thoughtfully told the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders as she delivered lessons while making the pasta salad.

The kids ate it almost as quickly as it was handed out.

“This is better than my mom’s cooking,” Lucas said, a 5th grader at the school who polished off his serving; tomatoes, spinach, zucchini, peppers, corn and all. 

According to data from the Department of Health, 16 percent of the adult Bronxites has diabetes, the highest rate in the city and among the top five in the state. Moreover, pediatric diabetes affects .11 percent of NYC children, and while the number may seem low, it is twice the national average, as reported by the National Institutes of Health. 

“Healthy eating and regular exercise can help prevent these food-related diseases,” Vincent Cangialosi said, physical education teacher at the school for the last seven years.

About four years ago, the school received a grant to buy a hydroponic tower where they grow cilantro, basil, dill, bibb lettuce and lavender.

“ They get to see the lifecycle of the plant, but then they'll also harvest it and taste it,” he added. “And we'll make a big salad at the end of the year.”

Principal Obrien is a native of Kingsbridge who attended P.S. 207 when it was called St. John’s school and she takes the health of her students to heart.

“This building is very special to me,” she said. “It's a community I still keep in touch with.”