The Health Education Resource Office will host a Cook Well Live Well Nutrition Lesson and Cooking Class, open to all University of Kansas students March 9, 2015 from 4-6 p.m. at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
The Health Education Resource Office hosts this class almost once a month at different locations around campus. Based on lack of funds, not all classes can be open to the whole student body. Instead, most of the classes are held in the Scholarship Halls’ kitchens.
Kelsey Fortin, one of three Health Educators at the Health Education Resource Office, is a former employee of Harvesters, a food pantry serving a 26-county area of northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. Fortin herself with the Cook Well Live Well idea through working with Harvesters. Fortin enrolled in their Train the Teacher program upon her employment at the university in hopes of educating students on the importance of healthy eating. Fortin was able to start spreading her knowledge to students at the University of Kansas after participating in much training.
“The topic of these classes is everchanging,” said Fortin. This month’s class will focus on how to plan healthy meals on a college student’s budget.
Although the Health Education Resource Office hopes to broaden their audience each time they hold the class, they do not have the funds available if the interest continues to grow. The first class only had about five attendees which grew to almost 20 by the second class. Fortin was pleasantly surprised by this turn-out and hopes to keep up with the education despite her small budget.
The Health Education Resource Office is now able to hold the classes at Watkins Memorial Health Center after struggling to get approval from University of Kansas Dining. Now that they have been approved and accepted by the university’s dining establishments, they have recently partnered for regular events in all dining halls on campus. HERO focuses on spreading knowledge about anything that will help improve your health. There are regular game nights held in both Mrs. E’s dining hall and North College Café to motivate students to make learning about nutrition.
The Health Education Resource Office is “a source for KU community wellness through partnerships that support innovative approaches toward optimal health while maximizing academic and professional success,” according to their website. They hold many weekly events across campus along with some one-time events during special awareness weeks throughout the year. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. some type of event is held at a campus location. Among these events are Condom Sense Friday and Pause for Pups.
Look for The Health Education Resource Office and their daily events across campus. For more information on the Health Education Resource Office, please visit http://studenthealth.ku.edu/hero.
Kelly Davis 