Video Contest Salad Bars Awarded

Winning Schools in Elbert and Loveland Receive Salad Bars

Recently, two more salad bars were donated by the Colorado potato industry as part of their prize for winning the 2017 Colorado Potatoes Video Contest. Potatoes USA matched each donation, resulting in four salad bar donations total. The schools who received the salad bars were Elbert School in Elbert, CO and Mary Blair Elementary, Centennial Elementary and B. F. Kitchen Elementary in Loveland, CO. Stacy Libal’s 5th grade class from Mary Blair Elementary won the Elementary school division and Stephanie Gillen’s 8^th grade class of Elbert School won the Middle/High school division of the video contest.

Stacy Libal’s 5th grade class

Stephanie Gillen’s 8th grade class

The salad bars were just one of three prizes each class received, including cash prizes for both the class and the teacher. Stacy Libal’s class used the class prize money to purchase unconventional seating for the classroom, and Stephanie Gillen’s class used the prize money to take all the students who participated in the video on a field trip.

Unconventional Seating in Stacy Libal’s classroom.

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools

Colorado Potatoes has been a proud supporter of the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative. Potatoes USA also committed to matching each donation from the potato industry one-for-one. The potato industry has now donated more salad bars to the program than any other sector of the produce industry! To date, Colorado potato growers have donated sixteen salad bars. With the Potatoes USA matches, this has resulted in 32 salad bar donations. Colorado Potatoes will continue “Raising the Bar” at schools across the nation!

The aim of Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is to positively impact nutrition in schools. Having a salad bar is an effective strategy to increase students’ intake of fruits and vegetables. Having healthy foods easily accessible to students helps them make healthy choices at lunchtime. Colorado Potatoes is proud to be a part of this program, which is promoting nutrition and helping students develop healthy eating habits early on.