Tomorrow, Wednesday February 24, Operation: GET FIT begins and hopes to inspire students to become healthier.  Professor Theresa Cousins, head of the Foods and Nutrition Curricula here at Westchester Community College, will be our expert at the meeting.  This initiative is student-ran but to help students feel more secure about the information they are receiving, a professional registered dietician will attend and speak at the meeting tomorrow.  Here is an outline of the topics that will be discussed tomorrow by Professor Cousins:

 Outline for Nutrition Meeting #1 on FEB 24:  Operation:  GET FIT

Opening Greeting by Edafe, Jovanna, Ela and Janet

1. Introduction to the initiative and what we hope to accomplish
2. Hand out calendars and discuss meeting times, both exercise and nutrition along with contact information
3. Introduce the marathon idea at the end of the semester, Get Healthy for Haiti, and discuss sponsorships for the marathon; how they can spread the word and get other people on campus involved

Health and Nutrition:  The Relationship

            The main objective of the introduction meeting is to expose participants to the facts of the relationship between health and food choices.

1. Discuss personal goals and what the participants wish to accomplish
2. Discuss the easiest, most simple, proven ways to lose weight and keep it off successfully

1.      Recognizing food portions and serving sizes using the food models provided by Professor Cousins

2.      Learning to read food labels

3.      Keeping a food journal through MyPyramid.gov

4.      Incorporating exercise and activities into daily life

Our group exercise programs begin next week on Monday, March 1!!!!!!

Operation: GET FIT is an initiative that is to be implemented during  Spring 2010, to get students pro-active about their physical health pertaining to eating and exercise. This initiative is designed to promote healthier lifestyles by creating exercise programs on campus for students and by encouraging students to attend small seminars on healthy foods, healthy cooking, ways to increase their nutritional intake and diet-related diseases that are prevalent in our society and in campus. This initiative hopes to combine the talents and efforts of Registered Dieticians on campus (teachers), students in the Foods & Nutrition curricula, students interested in pursuing a career in physical education and members of the WCC students who wish to better their health.

The Framework for Operation: GET FIT

To spread awareness we will advertise in the school newspaper and put up flyers around campus spreading the word that Operation: GET FIT is coming this spring.

Starting in the Spring 2010, this initiative will run for one semester. There will be a kick-off meeting where we the group members  will give an overview of the group goals for the semester. There will be a list of dates of activities; seminars and exercise programs that will be available for the participants.

The participants will be assessed by a Foods and Nutrition student who will collect the Anthropometrics (height, weight and body mass index (BMI))

We will then work along with a RD and Food and Nutrition students to analyze the information collected. This will give Nutrition students real life practice for future jobs and a chance to see how things that they are learning in class can be applied to real life.

There will be an email address and a website available for participants to contact us where they can share their questions and concerns even their successes. We will use the advise the help of a Food and Nutrition teacher or RD to properly address their questions and concerns.

There will exercise programs available during each week of Operation: GET FIT. The plan is to alternate the activities each week. One week we will be involved in some form of physical activity and the next week will we engage in an information seminar.

This initiative is a stepping stone towards a permanent program that is hoped to develop from this. For this program to continue, it is the hope that future students of the Food and Nutrition curricula take the responsibility to keep it going.

Operation: GET FIT is about getting Westchester Community College students healthier. It is about dispelling the myths about food and exercise and shedding light on diseases that are becoming more prevalent in our society, especially on our campus. Operation: GET FIT is about education and personal commitment. Whether this initiative helps 100 people or just one, it is a worthy cause and definitely something that will have a lasting impact here at WCC.

So far we have met with Professor Cousins who is the head of the Food and Nutrition Department to give her an overview of the project. She thinks that it is a feasible project and has agreed to work along with us. We are going to start advertising when school resumes after the Christmas break. We are also going to sign up for a table at Club Day so that we can continue to inform and recruit participants. We are putting together a consent form for the participants to sign saying that they have spoken to their primary care physician and that there is no problem for them to participate in the project. Professor Cousins also suggested that we speak to Prof. Slavin, the Associate Dean of Student Development and Support Services, to make him aware of the program and for him to give us guidelines as to whether or not it is necessary for us to have malpractice insurance, just as a precautionary measure. We will plan a meeting with him as soon the Spring semester starts or if possible, before. We are also going to meet with the Food and Nutrition students to give them an overview and to get volunteers. This program would also be good for them because they could also earn community service hours for being a part of it.

After our Club Day event we are going to officially start the program the following week.

 Our group contacted 'neighbor's link' and we are going to start working with them this week. Every Thursday evening we are going to be teaching there; we're furthermore taking care of the tools and the fliers for the worker's protection. Everything else will remain as we previously discussed, with the 'Global Peace Festival' (on campus) and the newspaper article as means of informing people about our project and motivating them to do acts of kindness upon others as well.

Sorry for the late post!  ='(   

• Planning and coordinating the food drive
• Developing a flier describing the food drive and a sample food list
• Contact store management to collect food donations or to request permission for collecting food  in front of the stores
• The food drive itself will run over a two-week period
• Setting a delivery date to the food bank recommended by UPF.
• Using social media at WCC for publicity
• Work on the Presentation

title: Random Acts of Kindness

group members:  Mastaneh, Heidi, Julio, Manuel

-- food drive: we're planing to ask a couple of supermarkets directly for some donations; we might also put up a little stand in                    front of a supermarket and ask people passing by for donations; the food collected will be sent to the "Food                                    Bank for Westchester"

-- smile cards: our goal is to animate as many people as possible to do acts of kindness, therefore we are going to distribute                       little smile cards; the concept behind this is to pass this card on to whomever you pass your act of kindness                        onto, this way we're hoping to perpetuate that system of generosity

As far as I recall, last time the question came up as in how far our project was connected to UPF (Universal Peace Federation), the organization we're working with; regarding that I just wanted to add that one of the main goals UPF pursues is to foster a culture of peace and service which I think we are actively supporting by promoting that system of generosity.

Hey everybody!

I'm sorry this post actually doesn't have anything to do with our group work, but I thought this might be interesting for everybody......I just found out through my aunty that there's gonna be a UN conference on 'interfaith cooperation and the protection of human rights and dignity' in the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, December 2. If anybody is interested to go and see it, try to let me know by Monday, so my aunty can take care of the registering.....I'm sorry it's kinda last minute, but I think it would be a great experience. Anyhow, check out the link below for the invitation flyer (you might have to paste it into your browser's URL) and by the way, if anybody needs a ride...let me know.

 http://www.nwencyclopedia.com/iifwp/DELETEAFTER2WEEKS/200812_UNDEC2_flyerfromword.pdf

ps:   Hey Prof. Maida and Prof. Trickel, I'm sorry our group hasn't posted it's project yet....we're still kind of trying to collect ideas though; we do have a slight idea of what we could do since we talked to some people from UPF...the only thing is that we have to figure out how to get funds or find something that doesn't require any.....anyway, I promise we'll work it out and let you know as soon as possible.

See you everybody.....

Manuel