The Food Education Project: Teaching Nutrition through Environmental Awareness

This paper examines a 300-hour fieldwork internship that took place during a summer semester at a local non-profit called the Food Education Project (FEP). FEP provided a practical and hands- on opportunity, which allowed for the knowledge gained over the past two years at the University of San Francisco’s Public Health Program to be put to public health practice. The experience was invaluable for the author’s professional and personal growth. The paper will explore the prevalence of obesity and type II diabetes in the nation’s youth today. Second, a literature review will be conducted to examine the relevance of in school interventions to combat obesity and type II diabetes. Next, a description of the Food Education Project’s staff will be provided as well as various programmatic ways in which FEP is trying to address the obesity epidemic. The importance of a grass roots level organization and what makes FEP unique is explored. A project will be described where the author further researched the validity of the program, and sought to examine if FEP was having a positive and helpful impact for their students. From here, competencies that were put forth from the Master’s of Public Health Program at the University of San Francisco will be addressed and acknowledged in how they related to the author’s experience. Relevant and useful coursework will be recognized and final thoughts on the author’s experience during these 300 hours