At Gooding Elementary-Middle School, Child Nutrition Director, Anji Baumann, does more than serve up hot lunches. Her lunch program has just been awarded the “Gold Award of Distinction” in the HealthierUS School Challenge sponsored by the USDA. Gooding Elementary is the first school in the nation to receive this award. To attain this honor, Baumann had to send in an application with one month’s worth of recipes, nutritional analyses of all menu items, documentation of physical education, exercise, and wellness education. The wellness education includes posters with dairy endorsements and other things to show students healthy food choices.

In order to keep the lunches healthy and tasty, Anji Baumann, Child Nutrition Director, often comes up with unusual ingredients as substitutes for fatty oils and butter in some recipes. For example, the cooks have used pureed beans to replace some of the oil and add fiber to their chocolate cake, and the result was delicious. In fact, the cake tastes so good, none of the students are even aware that they are eating a healthy treat. As a rule, Gooding’s school lunches include only whole grains, using the least amount of processed foods like enriched and bleached flour. The lunch staff also makes foods like spaghetti, Stromboli, and most baked goods from scratch. They often don’t use any prepackaged foods in their lunch menus. Another unique feature of Gooding’s school lunch program is that it does not allow any fried foods, candy, or soda in vending machines, and offers only low-fat dairy products such as yogurt, fat-free pudding, milk and low-fat string cheese for students to purchase.

Additionally, Baumann and her staff support local farmers and businesses by buying locally grown fruits, vegetables, and meats whenever possible. The fish for the school’s ocean burgers is raised at the Buhl hatchery. Lunches regularly include freshly grown Idaho produce on the Healthy Choice Bar such as lettuce, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, cantaloupe, and other melons, grapes, and red, yellow and green bell peppers. Lunches also include Idaho grown potatoes with topping like low-fat cheese, fat-free sour cream, salsa, ham, olives, chopped broccoli, home-made chili, bacon bits and cottage cheese. Bread items like tortillas and rolls are made from whole wheat flour with more fiber and less sugar.

Baumann came to Gooding in 2001 and began working toward becoming the nation’s healthiest school lunch program right away. It costs $500,000 per year to run the lunch program, and the funding comes from student lunch fees and from federal grant money. Baumann said it costs a little more to make healthy lunches, but it was worth it for the kids. She likes making it healthier because the program provides tasty fruits and vegetables to the classrooms instead of fat-filled, sugary snacks. This helps prevent obesity in students, teaches them about the importance of exercise and healthy eating, and gives students energy to walk in the Mileage Club, a mandatory structured walking program, to earn “Top Walkers” medals.

Gooding’s program also serves breakfast daily to students. Elementary students get served right in their classroom and Middle School students get a “Grab n’ Go” breakfast everyday from 9:00 to 9:10 a.m. Baumann noted that since this started the number of students eating breakfast increased by 57%. This increase rewards Gooding Schools more federal money to help with the cost of their program, and ensures all students are receiving adequate nutrition to fuel their brain for better learning.

When asked what it took to run the healthy lunch program, Baumann said, “Lots of support from the staff, the students, and the community.” Sixth grader, Hailey Cheney, said “Gooding’s lunch offers more variety, larger portions, and is much healthier than the sack lunches she received at her former school.” Jessica Stafford, also a sixth grader from Gooding, said of her school’s lunch, “It makes me feel good, more fit, and more ahead of other schools.” When our team asked Anji if she bought organic food, she said, “I don’t buy organic food because it costs so much.” Chief Nutrition Director, Anji Baumann, said she hopes Oprah Winfrey or the President will come and visit Gooding Elementary to celebrate the Award. In addition to writing grants, planning healthy menus, and balancing her budget, Baumann can often be found right along her staff, serving lunch to the smiling faces at GEMS.

In addition to Anji Baumann, the Gooding School Lunch Program staff includes: La Rue Clements, Amy Allred, Maria Hernandez, Anita Ostler, Brenda Kerner, Karrie Giles, Gerri Squires, Ruth Acha, and Jesus Nava.

Article by Julie Pawson, 6th grade student at GMS

Contributing writers Mrs. Herrgesell’s 6th grade Publication Class:

Brittni Constable, Rosa Martinez, Brooke Freeman, Kearsten Bekoff, Daun Shurtz, Jenna Gnessa, Katelyn Jones, Nicole Armstrong, Lanai Hernandez, Dania Gonzales, Yesenia Chavez, Hailey Cheney, Jessica Stafford, and Alexia Scott