Feature Program



Trenton youth Get Moving and Get Healthy through a unique summer program

 This summer over three hundred Trenton youth got moving and got healthy as part of a unique Food and Fitness Ambassador program. Mercer County 4-H professionals recruited twenty teenagers from Boys and Girls Club of Trenton and Mercer County, New Jersey Youth Corps of Trenton, and a local faith-based organization to become after-school Food and Fitness Ambassadors.

The teens were trained in the Get Moving – Get Healthy with New Jersey 4-H (GMGH) curriculum. After completing their training, the teenagers served as Food and Fitness Ambassadors – planning and conducting GMGH fairs for several collaborating after-school programs in Trenton, New Jersey.

The program provided an authentic community-based service learning experience for the teenagers as they promoted healthy lifestyle habits and presented up-to-date information on nutrition and exercise to after-school children, youth, and staff. The collaborating programs included:
  • Boys and Girls Club of Trenton and Mercer County (Mott Elementary School’s After school Program)
  • City of Trenton - Department of Recreation Natural Resources, and Culture (Sam Naples Community Center’s After-school Program, Kilmer Elementary Summer Day Camp, Mott Elementary Summer Day Camp
  • Lawrence Neighborhood Service Center (Summer Day Camp)
  • Trenton Community Charter School (Young Scholars Institute’s After-School Program)
The teenagers, with support from their advisors, contacted the sponsor of the collaborating programs, scheduled the GMGH fair, promoted it with flyers, and finalized all of the preparations. On the day of the events, the teenagers typically set-up activity stations around the perimeter of a gymnasium or large multi-purpose room. Groups of after-school children and youth then rotated through the stations with their teacher.

The stations included the nine GMGH activities (Exercise Challenge, Finding Your Pyramid, Healthy Plate, Measure Up, Portion Distortion, Read the Label, Serving Match, Think What You Drink, and What Counts), healthy after-school snack stations (fresh fruit smoothies and/or trail mix), and in some cases, pre and post-test stations. The trail mix snack is also a learning activity with participants limited to a 100, 150, or 200-calorie snack. Youth experience the importance of reading nutrition labels and controlling portion sizes as they learn the caloric density of the various trail mix ingredients (pretzels, nuts, cereals, dried fruits, miniature marshmallows, and chocolate candies) and determine their mixture using the serving spoons and cups provided. Take home information was provided with either the GMGH placemats or MyPyramid for Kids materials available at MyPyramid.gov.

On the post-tests, participants were asked to list one or two things they learned and at least one way they plan to use the information. Some of their responses included:

One or Two Things You Learned
  • How to keep myself healthy
  • Healthy things to eat
  • To watch the amount of certain foods I eat when I put it on the plate
  • How much sugar is in soda
  • How to limit what I eat and how to measure what I eat
  • That you don’t have to give up all the food you like to get healthy but you have to limit the portion
  • I learned that a person my age should get 60 minutes of exercise each day
  • Simple ways to exercise
One Way You Plan to Use this Information
  • By making good things to eat
  • Tell my mom about this information
  • Share information with friends and family
  • Change lifestyle
  • Help my family get healthy
  • Less or no soda
  • Be more mindful of my portions
  • Doing it, trying some of the things that I learned
  • Better plan my meals
  • Start eating more fruits and vegetables than fast foods
  • Watch what I eat
For More Information

Chad Ripberger, Mercer County 4-H Agent - ripberger@rce.rutgers.edu
Sharon Gore, Mercer County 4-H Program Associate - gore@rce.rutgers.edu




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