| Day 1 Thursday, March 28th 12:00PM EST- 4:00PM EST |
| Time | Topic | Presenter & Presenter Bio | Session Overview |
| 12:00pm | Welcome & Announcements |
| 12:15pm – 1:15pm | Keynote Session | Kashi Sehgal, CEO Founder, Retaaza |
| 1:20pm – 2:00pm | Concurrent Sessions #1: Nutrition Resources for the Early Care and Education Setting | Monica Griffin MS, RD, LD Assistant Director of Nutrition and Wellness Initiatives Quality Care for Children Monica Griffin is a registered dietitian and child nutrition expert with over 14 years of experience in the early care and education setting. As the Assistant Director of Nutrition and Wellness Initiatives at Quality Care for Children, Monica empowers early childhood professionals to support healthy eating habits and reduce food insecurity for children and families through the Farm to ECE framework and Child and Adult Care Food Program. Monica earned a BS in Dietetics with a Health Promotion Specialization from Michigan State University, and a MS in Public Health Nutrition with a Maternal and Child Health Specialization from Case Western Reserve University. | Title: Nutrition Resources for the Early Care and Education Setting The early care and education (ECE) setting is a key lever for developing healthy eating habits for young children, their families, and communities. In this session, we will discuss Farm to ECE as an evidence-based framework for supporting healthy childcare environments. Participants will learn about free resources available for supporting nutrition and agriculture education in the ECE setting, and opportunities for connecting ECE programs to local, sustainable food systems. Objectives: After attending this session, participants will be able to: Define Farm to ECE (Early Care and Education)Understand how to access free Harvest of the Month resources, including lesson plans, recipes and newsletters.Identify opportunities for nutrition professionals, including those working in Extension, to connect ECE programs to the local food system |
| 1:40pm to 2:25pm | Break/Call to Action |
| 2:25pm – 3:15pm | Concurrent Sessions #2 | Cindy K. Culver, MS, RDN, LD Marietta City Schools Director of School Nutrition Cindy Kanarek Culver, MS, RDN, LD is the Director of School Nutrition for Marietta City Schools (GA). She has 22 years of experience in school nutrition. She is the current School Nutrition Services Dietetic Practice Group Diversity Liaison and the Georgia Affiliate Liaison for the School Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group. The Marietta City Schools Nutrition Program serves breakfast, lunch, after school snacks and supper to nearly 9,000 students daily. Additionally, they serve the Seamless Summer Option Program within the community and were granted the USDA Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program Grant at five of their elementary schools. Cindy received her BSFCS from the University of Georgia, completed her dietetic internship from the University of Northern Colorado, earned a Master of Health Sciences from the University of Alabama and is a current student pursuing a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership in Business student at Anderson University. | Title: Food is an Equalizer in School Nutrition Participants will learn the benefits of the School Nutrition Program and the important role it plays in equity for students’ learning success. |
| 3:15pm – 3:30pm | Ignite Sessions: Learn about programming happening in the state of Georgia with these three ignite sessions. Each presenter has 5-minute presentation. |
| | Session #1 | Andie Bisceglia Campus Kitchen Coordinator Office of Service Learning Andie Bisceglia currently serves as the program coordinator for Campus Kitchen, a student program based out of the UGA Office of Service-Learning. Over her career, she has worked in experiential and food systems education for over 15 years in both New England and Georgia. Her work experience encompasses urban community and school garden organizing, experiential ecosystem education, farm work, and community food security. | Title: Grow It Know It- UGA School Garden Training Program School gardens are an important experiential education tool that can enhance both the classroom and cafeteria at K-12 schools by increasing student engagement, vegetable & fruit intake, and social-emotional well-being. Grow It Know It is an annual school garden training program designed and run by a team of educators & horticulturalists at UGA. Learn how this program has helped teams of GA teachers & school nutrition directors successfully run and enhance their own school garden programs. |
| | Session #2 | Christina Nichols, MPH, RDN, LD School Nutrition Director Cartersville City School District Christina Nichols is currently the School Nutrition Director for Cartersville City Schools, where she has served students for eight years. Under her direction, the departmental vision is Every Student Fed, which they achieve through a combination of ensuring easy access to school meals and cooking kid-friendly, delicious food. Christina is a Registered Dietitian and earned her MPH in Nutrition from Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health in 2015. | Title: Filling the gaps with ready-to-eat family meals for students experiencing food insecurity School meals provide an excellent, reliable source of nutrition for students during the school year. Meals are available in certain areas for children over the summer break, but there are no existing programs that fund school holiday meals. Cartersville City School Nutrition has increased fundraising efforts in order to fill the gaps for our most vulnerable students. We were able to find community donations which allowed us to provide ready-to-eat, family style meals as well as some child friendly individually wrapped items over the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. These families were identified by our School Social Workers as needing extra assistance, many of whom live in hotels/motels and do not have access to a kitchen. |
| | Session #3 | Shana Scott | |
| 3:30pm – 4:00pm | Wrap Up Silent Auction, Agenda Review |
