Ontonagon County
Ontonagon County Extension
Courthouse, 725 Greenland Road
Ontonagon, MI 49953 / P: 906-884-4386
F: 906-884-2582 / E-mail:

http://msue.msu.edu/OntonagonDirector: Frank Wardynski

May 2007

Family Nutrition Program goes to school with elementary education
Throughout the past school year, Stacey Somero of the Family Nutrition Program (FNP) and Jody Maloney of 4-H, visited elementary classrooms to educate students about nutrition.
During a series of four sessions, 78 youngsters in kindergarten through third grade at the Ewen-Trout Creek Consolidated School and 160 students from the Ontonagon Area Elementary School learned about healthy eating with fruits and vegetables, the benefits of hand washing and the importance of daily physical fitness.
They also discussed the USDA food guide pyramid and the importance of eating a variety of foods along with limiting fats and sweets in their daily diet.
Using a special glow lotion on their hands and a germ machine, students could see where germs can hide and how to properly wash hands by scrubbing as long as it takes to sing the alphabet.
In addition, both schools played a healthy veggie Jeopardy game. In their final session, the younger students made streamers to help them get indoor exercise.The third grade class made healthy energy snacks, layering yogurt, berries and granola for a Food Pyramid Parfait.
Students clearly enjoyed the nutrition education sessions and often mentioned the germ machine as their favorite activity.
"I am starting to like fruits and vegetables more and more,"said Isabella Maki of Mrs. Lockhart's class. / Third grader Erin Havela wrote a letter to the MSU Extension office which stated, "I hope you can come back again!"
FunFest promotes diverse experiences
About 70 Ontonagon Area Elementary School students had in international experience in March during the after-school FunFest, a cultural awareness program for kindergarten through sixth graders.
The second annual event’s theme was “Around the World” and it was sponsored by MSU Extension and Ontonagon County Children's Trust Fund.
Each child had the opportunity to take part in four cultural activities representing more than 20 cultures and traditions from around the world.
With 16 different options to choose from, the celebrated favorites were medieval sword fighting, African mask making, English country dancing and World Cup soccer sessions.
MSU Extension Family Nutrition Program associate Kathie Preiss lead four sessions focused on such foods as Italian waffle cookies, Mexican bunelos and Finnish pannukaku.
MSU Extension director Frank Wardynski and Ontonagon County juvenile officer Paula Domitrovich lead sessions on soccer and a mini-Olympics. Other adult leaders included Paula Maloney of Superior AmeriCorps, Brian Foreman of Houghton County 4-H and 4-H volunteer leader Chris Frazer. Continued
/ Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. Offices in counties across the state link the research of the land-grant university, MSU, to challenges facingcommunities. Citizens serving on county Extension councils regularly help select focus areas for programming. MSU Extension is funded jointly by county boards of commissioners,the state through Michigan State University and federally through the US Department of Agriculture.
FunFest continued
The event provided learning for older students too, as members of the Ontonagon Area Junior-Senior High School Teen Assets Never Go Old (TANGO) group lead hands-on projects as a part of their service-learning activities.The teens not only built their presentation skills, they also could share their knowledge with others and feel the pride in contributing to another person’s development.
After the event, parents responded positively and many offered to help with the 2008 FunFest.
Ontonagon mom Kirsten Menigoz said, "This is so great! My five-year-old is sampling international food! We need more things like this."
Raising youth awareness of financial matters
Understanding handling money and finances is an
important life skill.Teenagers control a multi-billion dollar portion of the consumer market, buying everything from clothing to video games to foods.
Parents and schools often overlook the importance of personal financial and money management training.
To meet this need locally, 4-H program associate Jody Maloney and Tammy Lancioni, the lifeskills teacher at Ontonagon Area High School, teamed up to educate seventh grade students about setting personal financial goals and creating a financial plan.
Using a free curriculum provided by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), the youths learned how to:
·  identify expenses that are important to them
·  set short, intermediate and long-term financial goals
·  analyze spending habits
·  create a plan for saving toward personal goals.
The three-session program helped the youths to realize that money is a tool that can help them meet their goal, whether it is saving for a trip, buying a movie ticket, going to college or purchasing a new car. / More than 50 students participated in the financial education sessions. By the end of the third session, they had all created at least one personal goal and a strategy to attain it.
Lancioni was impressed with the students’ ability to set financial goals.She noted that one student in particular, who hadn’t completed one assignment during the semester, handed in the financial goals worksheet.
When asked what motivated the seventh grader to complete the assignment, the student said, “I like money!”
Family Nutrition Program offers support to breastfeeding mothers
Many healthcare professionals recognize breastfeeding as the best source of nutrition for infants. Michigan’s lowest rates of breastfeeding are found among mothers who are in the Women Infant and Children (WIC) eligible population.
MSU Extension’s Breast Feeding Initiative program (BFI) was developed to increase use of this key health activity among this at-risk group.
The BFI’s goal is to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates among WIC-eligible women, provide breastfeeding encouragement and support to mothers throughout their infants’ first year of life and enhance state and local collaboration to expand service delivery and education for mothers and babies.
In collaboration with the Western Upper Peninsula Heath Department, MSU Extension Family Nutrition Program associate Kathie Preiss serves as a breastfeeding peer counselor. She is currently providing support and education to 10 WIC-eligible mothers in Ontonagon County.
“The program is very helpful because it raises awareness and offers accurate information,” says Kathy Mell, Upper Peninsula public health nurse. “I feel in the last year, I have seen more clients breast feed and for longer periods and the BFI program has contributed to those increased numbers.”
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal opportunity employer, Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, or family status. Issued in furtherance of MSU Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thomas G. Coon, Extension Director, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824