Contributed by Royall School District
The Royall School District has met the HealthierUS Challenge and received the silver award.
Many staff members and community members in the Royall School District put in hours of hard work to design and implement a plan that includes a new nutrition curriculum, a revamped, standard-based physical education curriculum and many, many after-school activities.
This year the elementary, middle and high schools have qualified for this award, joining the intermediate school, which received the recognition last year.
Royall Intermediate School was the first school in Wisconsin and the Midwest region to receive this award last year under the new, more rigorous application criteria. We have now learned that our high school is the first Wisconsin high school to win this award. In addition, Royall is now the first district in Wisconsin to have all of its schools receive this award.
Royall’s Director of Food Service, Jennifer Jennings, CDM, CFPP, has dedicated her food service program to serve nutritious meals, and this commitment has been a crucial part of meeting the challenge.
Also key in Royall receiving this award was the leadership of our PEP Grant Coordinator, Ruth Witt. Ruth led a team of teachers, including Andy Dahlen, Jill Murphy and Michelle Hackett, as they took into account the entire well being of our district. Their primary goal was to provide a healthy school environment, from nutritional education to physical activity, aligning with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.
To be a HealthierUS School, a school must submit a formal application and meet exemplary criteria set forth by the USDA Food and Nutritional Service. The Royall nutrition team also put into action a wellness policy as mandated by Congress and committed to meeting all criteria throughout the four-year certification period.