CD: First lady recognizes Starkville schools

TIM PRATT

First Lady Michelle Obama gave kudos to the Starkville School District Wednesday for its efforts to improve the health of city students.

During a speech at Brinkley Middle School in Jackson, Obama encouraged students to pursue healthier lives and recognized the Starkville School District’s removal of deep fryers from school cafeterias as a step toward achieving that goal.

“Here in Mississippi, another thing that’s happened is that they’ve taken fryers out of the school and put in more ovens, right?” Obama said to a round of applause. “And just imagine, just because of that, in Starkville, two schools in that area, they’ve cut out about 3 million calories — 3 million calories — just by not having fried potatoes. Those are the kind of little things that make a difference.”

Although fryers actually were removed from three schools in the Starkville School District, not two, district officials were thrilled with Obama’s comments.

“It is quite an honor to be recognized for the effort,” district Director of Child Nutrition Beverly Lowry said. “And I think the fact that she said even the small things make a difference, I mean, when you look at french fries every day, the small things do add up. That’s a lot of calories.”

The fryers were removed from Starkville High School, Armstrong Middle School and Sudduth Elementary School, and replaced with combi ovens, which use steam, hot air, or a combination of both to prepare food. Costing about $35,000 per unit, the Starkville High School combi oven was paid for with a John D. Bower Foundation grant, while the ovens at Armstrong and Sudduth were paid for with district Child Nutrition Department funds, Lowry said.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.