Letter of Application

Butler University- Indianapolis, IN

Mar 5, 2020

Indiana Society for Health and Physical Educators

14059 Old Mill Circle
Carmel, IN 46032

Attention: INSHAPE

Dear INSHAPE,

I thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to review my INSHAPE mini-grant
application for a Healthy Snack Creation Station. I am requesting $1,916.96 for this mini-grant.
With this grant, I hope to acquire the food items and materials necessary to ensure that all
students at the IPS #55/Butler Lab School are being provided healthy snacks every day to fuel
their young, developing minds and bodies. This grant will allow me to create a Healthy Snack
Creation Station and put up educational posters concerning nutrition in the cafeteria that will
both increase students’ knowledge of health education concepts. Educating students about health
education concepts will aid in the development of an overall healthier school.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if any questions arise following your review of this
mini-grant application. I would be glad to clarify or further discuss anything in my application.

Sincerely,
Anna Nelsen

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Table of Contents

Formal Letter of Application 1

Table of Contents 2

Project Details 3

Rationale & Objectives 4

Procedures/Methods 7

Assessment Examples 9

Equipment & Other Financials 11

Budget Narrative 15

Supporting Materials 17

Works Cited 21

2
Project Details

The $1,916.96 that I am requesting will be used to create a Healthy Snack Creation

Station for the students at IPS #55/Butler Lab School at lunch one day. This will consist of a

table set up with a variety of healthy and unhealthy snacks for students to create their own

healthy snacks. There will also be posters put up in the cafeteria to help educate students on

nutrition topics. The purpose of the variety of healthy and unhealthy snacks is to allow for the

assessment of students’ knowledge of nutrition and of creating a well-balanced, healthy snack. It

will be a one-day activity at lunch in the cafeteria, and students will discuss, and be assessed on,

their learning following the completion of the Healthy Snack Creation Station.

3
Rationale and Objectives

I am requesting $1,916.96 for my grant for the IPS #55/Butler Lab School. This money

would be used to purchase a variety of healthy snacks mixed in with a few unhealthy snacks as

part of a Healthy Snack Creation Station in the cafeteria. Part of the money would also be used to

put posters up in the cafeteria and hallways telling students the importance of nutrition and

maintaining a healthy diet, as well as what proper nutrition consists of (i.e. MyPlate). Students

would create their own balanced snack based on the MyPlate guidelines with the variety of snack

foods/ingredients provided at lunch one day. This would address NHES Standards 1, 5, and 7.

NHES Standard 1 states “Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and

disease prevention to enhance health” (“National Health Education Standards”). NHES Standard

5 states “Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health”

(“National Health Education Standards”). Standard 7 states “Students will demonstrate the

ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks” (“National

Health Education Standards”). Standard 1 is addressed because the students would have to

understand MyPlate and health promotion concepts to successfully create a balanced snack.

Standard 5 is addressed because students will have to make decisions between which of the

provided healthy and unhealthy snacks to use to make the best combination of foods to create the

most well-balanced snack they can, based on the MyPlate guidelines. Standard 7 is addressed

because students are practicing health-enhancing behaviors if they successfully create a

well-balanced snack according to the MyPlate guidelines. It would also be ideal to get the

teachers involved in this grant activity. Following the Healthy Snack Creation Station activity at

lunch, teachers could have a discussion with their classes. They would have their students write

4
or share what ingredients/foods they used to create their healthy, balanced snack and why, as

well as how their snack meets the MyPlate guidelines and is balanced, or what they could do to

improve the healthfulness of their snack. This would be an excellent way to get teachers involved

in the activity, as well as to integrate some intentional health education into the classrooms.

My group gave IPS #55/Butler Lab School a zero for the SHI assessment because after

conducting the SHI needs assessment, there appeared to be little evidence of an overall health

curriculum. Currently, as we discovered from our SHI assessment, this school relies mainly on

donations from parents and community members to provide the children with snacks every day.

Mr. Henderson, a first-grade teacher there, told us that the snacks are fairly healthy at the

moment, but that they sometimes have to rely on using leftovers from lunches as snacks. Their

snack program was cut due to lack of funding, which is why they are facing some challenges

with providing snacks for the kids. Healthy snacks are an important part of brain development,

learning, and overall health, especially for children. According to the YRBSS 2017,

“Nationwide, 31.3% of students had eaten fruit or drunk 100% fruit juices (e.g., orange juice,

apple juice, or grape juice, not counting punch, Kool-Aid, sports drinks, or other fruitflavored

drinks) two or more times per day during the 7 days before the survey” (“Youth Risk Behavior

Surveillance — United States, 2017” 70). This proves that there is a need to educate kids about

the components and benefits of a healthy diet, as well as to provide them with food that meets

these criteria at school. According to the Youth Clinic, “Children should eat two servings of fruit

and another two to three of vegetables daily” (“Can Kids Eat Too Much Fruit?”). This is the

amount of fruit that kids need daily, but according to the YRBSS, the majority of students are not

consuming the recommended amount of fruit every day. Additionally, “we find that in years

5
when a school contracts with a healthy lunch company, students at the school score better on

end-of-year academic tests. On average, student test scores are 0.03 to 0.04 standard deviations

higher (about 4 percentile points). Not only that, the test score increases are about 40 percent

larger for students who qualify for reduced-price or free school lunches” (“How the quality of

school lunch affects students’ academic performance”). From this data, we can see that providing

healthy foods in schools is a major issue that needs to be addressed, and an issue that, if fixed,

would increase student academic performance. While we may not be able to directly correlate

higher test scores to the Healthy Snack Creation Station due to a large number of variables at

play, we may be able to find that this activity increases student readiness for testing with the

distribution of a survey. This issue of a lack of healthy food in schools ​can​ be addressed with the

money from this grant by giving kids access to healthy food to demonstrate how easy it can be to

create a healthy, balanced snack according to the MyPlate guidelines.

Measurable Outcomes:

1) With the mix of healthy and unhealthy snacks, in addition to the posters, students will be

able to better understand the importance of, and the meaning of, proper nutrition.

2) Improved competency of MyPlate and health-enhancing behaviors, and related concepts,

to foster an overall healthier school environment.

3) Following this activity and the implementation of health education into the school,

students will feel more ready for testing.

6
Procedure/Methods

When the necessary funds provided by the INSHAPE mini-grant are approved, the steps

to acquiring the materials for the Healthy Snack Creation Station can begin promptly. To gather

the needed materials, they will need to be purchased online and shipped directly to IPS

#55/Butler Lab School. All of the products and prices listed in the line item budget in the next

few pages are sourced from Walmart, Amazon, Fedex, and Instacart.

The shipment and delivery of all of the items can take anywhere from a couple of weeks

to a month, depending on their availability. Once all of the items arrive, volunteers will be

acquired and will unbox all of the snacks prior to the date chosen to host the Healthy Snack

Creation Station at lunch. The perishable food items will be delivered on the day of or the day

before the HSCS, if possible. The ice and coolers will be used to keep these food items fresh. On

the night before and morning of, volunteers will set up the two five-foot-long white tables in the

cafeteria and place all of the snacks on them so they are organized and easily accessible to the

students. They will also set the coolers containing the ice and perishable food items next to the

long white tables in the cafeteria. The various nutrition posters and flyers advertising the event

will be hung up by volunteers during the week preceding the chosen date for the Healthy Snack

Creation Station activity.

The Healthy Snack Creation Station’s effectiveness can be evaluated through the

distribution of student and teacher surveys and an analysis of the responses. These surveys will

ask questions such as: “1) How ready do you feel for this test?,” and “2) How much did you

enjoy the snacks at the Healthy Snack Creation Station on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being that you

enjoyed them a lot and would eat them again, and 1 being that you strongly disliked the snacks

7
and would not eat them again?” Another survey question could be: “3) How much do you feel

that the Healthy Snack Creation Station helped you to feel more ready for testing on a scale of

one to five? (1= it did not help at all; 5= it helped a lot).” The first question should be proposed

to students prior to and following the Healthy Snack Creation Station, and all of their responses

should be recorded. Additionally, teachers and administrators could require all students to take a

test before the Healthy Snack Creation Station regarding health education that should be created

according to the state and national standards for health education for various grade levels.

All of the items can be temporarily stored in the cafeteria’s storage closet. They will not

need to be stored here for an extended period of time, as delivery will be scheduled as close as

possible to the chosen date for the Healthy Snack Creation Station activity. The perishable food

items will be stored in the coolers with the ice, or in the fridges in the school’s cafeteria, if space

allows. The unboxing of all of the food items and the arrangement of them on the long white

tables may take up to a couple of hours, depending on the number of volunteers who can assist

with this process. All of 300+ each snack will not fit on the white tables at one time, so the extra

snacks will be kept in boxes near the tables, allowing volunteers to refill them as needed on the

day of the Healthy Snack Creation Station.

8
Assessment Examples

There are a few steps that can be taken to assess this grant’s effectiveness. According to

the first objective, this grant will help students be able to better understand the importance of

proper nutrition. To assess this objective, we can look at what foods students choose to create

their healthy snacks to determine if they meet the criteria for a well-balanced, healthy snack

according to the MyPlate guidelines. Following the Healthy Snack Creation Station (HSCS),

teachers will record which foods the students chose and compare them to the MyPlate guidelines.

We could also administer a basic nutrition test prior to and following the Healthy Snack Creation

Station. If scores increase after students participate in the HSCS, then we can conclude that their

understanding of the importance of nutrition increased.

According to the second objective, this grant will improve students’ competency of

MyPlate and its guidelines. To assess this, we could have students write down what they know

about MyPlate before the HSCS, and then have them write down what they know after the HSCS

and after having seen the MyPlate posters. If they have more written down following the HSCS,

then this is evidence of learning and we can conclude that the students’ competency of MyPlate

has increased. Overall results will be analyzed to determine if the students learned something

about MyPlate following this activity, rendering this grant effective.

According to the third objective, students will feel more ready for testing after having

participated in the Healthy Snack Creation Station. To assess this outcome, we can distribute a

survey to students that would include questions such as: “1) How ready do you feel for this test

on a scale of one to five,” and “2) How much do you feel that the Healthy Snack Creation Station

helped you to feel more ready for testing on a scale of one to five?” The survey would be based

9
on a scale of one to five. For the first question, one would mean that the student did not feel

confident at all and felt unprepared, and five would mean that they feel very confident and

prepared to take the test. For the second question, one would mean that the HSCS did not help

the student at all, and five would mean that it helped the student a lot. We could distribute a

separate survey to teachers via email asking questions such as: “1) How ready do you feel your

students are for this test?,” and “2) To what extent do you feel that the HSCS helped your

students feel more ready for testing?” The same scale of five used for the students would be

utilized in this survey but would pertain to the teachers. This is essentially the same survey that

would be distributed to students, but the questions would focus on how ready the​ teacher

believes the students are to take the test. The first question of the survey would be distributed to

students and teachers before participating in the HSCS, and then the second question about the

impact of the HSCS would be distributed following the HSCS. If students felt that they were

more ready to take a test after the HSCS, then we can conclude that this activity increases

students’ readiness for testing. We can draw the same conclusion if the teachers’ survey

responses show that they believe their students feel more ready for testing following the HSCS.

We may even be able to conclude, overall, that nutrition and nutrition education improves

students’ readiness for testing. Following the survey distribution and reception of the responses,

this data will be compiled and used to determine whether or not the three outcomes were met. If

the results show that students feel more ready for testing overall and that teachers believe their

students are more ready for testing, then we can conclude that the measurable outcomes were

met and this grant was effective in accomplishing its goals.

10
Equipment & Other Financials

Line Item Budget

I. Personnel

Name Type of Service Grant Request Matching Total

Contribution

Volunteers Setting up $0
materials
(hanging up the
posters, setting
up and
supervising the
Healthy Snack
Creation Station,
putting the
almonds in
sandwich bags)

Subtotal $0

II. Operation
16 Nutrition Toss 'n $238.24
Talk-About Balls

3 MyPlate Kids $59.85

Posters

1 New Food Label $19.99

Poster - Nutrition
Facts Label Poster

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1 Tree of Nutrition $19.95
Poster

1 Printed Healthy $21.75

Snack Creation
Station Poster

18 Packages of $142.92
“Great Value Twist
String Low-Moisture
Part-Skim Mozzarella
Cheese, 36 count, 30
oz”

19 Boxes of “Yoplait $84.93

Go-Gurt Kids Yogurt,
Variety Pack, 32 oz”

12 Bags of “Great $106.32

Value Natural Whole
Almonds, 25 Oz”

1 Box of “Great $4.42

Value Double Zipper
Sandwich Bags, 300
Count”

6 Cases of $298.80
“Cal-Organic Baby
Carrot Snack Packs,
Case”

100 Packages of $399.00

“Crunch Pak Sweet
Apple Slices”

30 Packages of $114.90
“Snyder's Mini
Pretzels, 100 Calorie

12
Individual Packs (10
Count)”

30 Boxes of “Great $143.40

Value Chocolate
Chip Dipped Chewy
Granola Bars Value
Pack, 1.1 oz, 20
Count”

300 Printed HSCS $44.60

Student Surveys

4 Igloo 48-Qt Island $67.52

Breeze Coolers

8 22 lb Bags of Home $32.96

City Ice

2 5 ft Long White $79.92

Tables

1 Box of “Great $6.84

Value Disposable
Vinyl Gloves,
Latex-Free, 100
Count”

Subtotal $1,886.31

13
III. Travel
Mileage $0 $0 $0

Food $0 $0 $0

Lodging $0 $0 $0

Other - educational $0 $0 $20.70

material and
advertising:
30 Printed Healthy
Snack Creation
Station Flyers

Walmart Flat Rate $9.95

Grocery Delivery Fee

Total $1,916.96

14
Budget Narrative

All of the materials listed in the Line Item Budget will assist in enhancing students’

learning about nutrition. This projected budget is based on an estimated number of 300 students.

The Nutrition Toss n’ Talk-About Balls are intended to be used in the students’ classrooms

following the Healthy Snack Creation Station (HSCS) activity at lunch. They will help students

and teachers discuss nutrition and the healthy snacks that they created at lunch. They will also

help teachers to assess their students’ learning to determine what the students learned about

nutrition from the activity. The various nutrition posters will be hung up in the cafeteria to help

provide visuals for the activity and to further educate students about nutrition. The 30 HSCS

flyers will be hung around the school (in the cafeteria, classrooms, gym, front office, hallways,

offices, etc.) to advertise when and where the Healthy Snack Creation Station activity will be

hosted. The printed Healthy Snack Creation Station poster will hang on the HSCS table where all

the snacks will be located for the activity so students, staff, and volunteers can easily locate the

HSCS. The string cheese, Go-Gurt, almonds, baby carrots, apple slices, and pretzels will be used

as healthy options for the kids to create their healthy snacks at the Healthy Snack Creation

Station. The sandwich bags will be used to put about 23 almonds (about 1 serving) each in since

they do not come in individual packs, and will also help students visualize what 1 serving of

almonds looks like. The gloves will be used when the volunteers put the almonds in the

sandwich bags. The chocolate-dipped granola bars are to be used as an unhealthy option at the

Healthy Snack Creation Station so students can implement decision-making related to nutrition.

Teachers will be able to assess what they learned about nutrition by observing and recording

which snacks each student chooses. The two coolers will be used to put the produce and

15
perishable items in (the apples, carrots, Go-Gurt, and string cheese), and the bags of ice will be

used to keep them cold and fresh. The five-foot-long white table will be used as the Healthy

Snack Creation Station so that there is somewhere to set out all of the snacks for the students. I

have requested enough of each snack item so that every kid has the opportunity to decide

between all of the snacks when creating their healthy, balanced snack. So, since there are about

300 students at the IPS #55/Butler Lab School, there are at least 300 of each snack. The excess

snacks will be used as a part of the school’s snack program during school, or for school breakfast

or after school snacks for the students.

16
Supporting Materials

Links to Materials:

Nutrition Toss n’ Talk-About Balls:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Toss-n-Talk-About-Ball/dp/

B00LNI3KPK/ref%3Dsr_1_26?keywords%3Dnutrition%2Bposter%26qid%3D1582152588%26

sr%3D8-26&sa=D&ust=1582221686053000&usg=AFQjCNH5o7Oc6NAkiPp_9tfQvrzuIJR7Iw

MyPlate Kids Posters:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Education-Store-6-81111k-

MyPlate/dp/B00GHYF5F8/ref%3Dsr_1_6?keywords%3Dmyplate%2Bposters%2Bfor%2Bschoo

ls%26qid%3D1582153299%26sr%3D8-6&sa=D&ust=1582221686088000&usg=AFQjCNHdV

xaKoKKQ4FzlcMfi5ESG4ICVvA

Nutrition Facts Label Poster:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/New-Food-Label-Poster-Nutrition/dp/

B01HQVQ5DQ/ref%3Dsr_1_1_sspa?keywords%3Dschool%2Bnutrition%2Bposters%26qid%3

D1582153580%26sr%3D8-1-spons%26psc%3D1%26spLa%3DZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaW

VyPUExQk45Qjg0MjFUNlVHJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODc5NjA3Mk5CMVhUWVZJUEx

QMiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDMwNTQ5WFNTRlJUMUpQR0lHJndpZGdldE5hbWU

9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ%3D%3D&

sa=D&ust=1582221686090000&usg=AFQjCNFyEcDwGnmM5jt3brNIxipcoBkQ5g

17
Nutrition Tree Poster:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Education-Store-183-Poster/

dp/B00H2XAPZI/ref%3Dsr_1_54_sspa?crid%3D39SVZHL0XF5MN%26keywords%3Dschool

%2Bnutrition%2Bposters%26qid%3D1582154241%26sprefix%3D%252Caps%252C164%26sr

%3D8-54-spons%26psc%3D1%26spLa%3DZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFRQVI2TjFI

RkFaNjAmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyNjgwNDYzSUhKUllMQUZDVE5JJmVuY3J5cHRlZE

FkSWQ9QTAwNjE2NDYzTFlXVFQ0Q1lWOVZUJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYnRmJmFjdGlv

bj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ%3D%3D&sa=D&ust=158222168

6093000&usg=AFQjCNHVQZlsIvaTXrJeWCR-mYY-w2mmbg

HSCS Poster Printing Pricing:

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/printing/posters/prints.html#details

HSCS Survey Printing Pricing:

https://www.fedex.com/apps/printonline/?cjevent=fb488ff3705711ea80c800ae0a240614#!check

out

String Cheese:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Twist-String-Low-Moisture-Part-Skim-Mozzarella-Ch

eese-36-count-30-oz/155748863

18
Yoplait Go-Gurt:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Yoplait-Go-Gurt-Kids-Yogurt-Variety-Pack-32-oz/53979102

Almonds:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Natural-Whole-Almonds-25-Oz/251776571

Sandwich Bags:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Double-Zipper-Sandwich-Bags-300-Count/39132424

Baby Carrots:

https://www.freshdirect.com/pdp.jsp?productId=veg_pid_4201336&catId=veg_snack

Apple Slices:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.instacart.com/landing?product_id%3D1969492%26

retailer_id%3D58%26region_id%3D3696053580%26mrid%3D154583373%26utm_medium%3

Dsem_shopping%26utm_source%3Dinstacart_google%26utm_campaign%3Dad_demand_shopp

ing_food_in_indianapolis_newengen%26utm_content%3Daccountid-8145171519_campaignid-1

771253220_adgroupid-75793162984_device-c%26gclid%3DEAIaIQobChMI9vzEv5jf5wIVi8hk

Ch3f4wMOEAQYAiABEgIx0fD_BwE&sa=D&ust=1582221686084000&usg=AFQjCNHLwT_

MIGtNOyy6rDTEsHMcEjoG7w

Mini Packages of Pretzels:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Snyder-s-Mini-Pretzels-100-Calorie-Individual-Packs-10-Count/10293731

19
Chocolate Dipped Granola Bars:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Chocolate-Chip-Dippe

d-Chewy-Granola-Bars-Value-Pack-1-1-oz-20-Count/199825121&sa=D&ust=15822251702250

00&usg=AFQjCNF9wU5WtkCUulOT71rCVZ7tL3I11A

HSCS Flyers Printing Pricing:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.fedex.com/apps/printonline/%23!preview/pid%253

D1447174746733%257C%257CisUF%253D0&sa=D&ust=1582221686078000&usg=AFQjCN

EICsPP45O6jdvfikB-XDBAhzUpEw

Cooler:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-48-Qt-Island-Breeze-Cooler/

23735484&sa=D&ust=1582221686093000&usg=AFQjCNFRDwDyKOSNSYyWY-RYBpnRI4

_ixA

Home City Ice:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Home-City-Ice-Home-City-Ice-Ice-22-lb/108997627

5 Foot Long White Table:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lifetime-5-Fold-In-Half-Table-White/54188341

Latex-Free Gloves:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Disposable-Vinyl-Gloves-Latex-Free-100-Count/599047883

20
Works Cited

Anderson, Michael L, et al. “How the Quality of School Lunch Affects Students' Academic

Performance.” ​Brookings,​ The Brookings Institute, 3 May 2017,

www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/05/03/how-the-quality-of-schoo

l-lunch-affects-students-academic-performance/.

“Can Kids Eat Too Much Fruit?” ​The Youth Clinic of Northern Colorado​, 10 Oct. 2019,

youthclinic.com/can-kids-eat-much-fruit/.

“National Health Education Standards.” ​Centers for Disease Control and Prevention​, Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Mar. 2019,

www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/sher/standards/index.htm​.

Peterson, Hayley. “Walmart Shoppers Can Now Get Unlimited Grocery Deliveries from 1,400

Stores Nationwide for a $98 Fee.” ​Business Insider,​ Business Insider, 5 Nov. 2019,

www.businessinsider.com/walmart-unlimited-grocery-delivery-98-2019-9.

“Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2017.” ​Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention​, 15 June 2018, www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2017/ss6708.pdf.

21