Fall River Office

Putting a SPIN on the Road to Health

When NEP Educators put power in the hands of middle-schoolers, the results are nothing short of transformational

Strength. Power. Choice.

For young people whose main sources of nutrition “information” (or lack thereof) are cartoon-colored cereal boxes and fast-talking TV commercials, NEP’s Strength and Power in Nutrition (SPIN) program, developed through a partnership between NEP and the UMass Department of Nutrition, offers tools to re-examine their choices, take back control of their food dollars—and beat marketers at their own game. 

“In the past, students basically just learned about the five food groups,” says Jessica Williams, a NEP Nutrition Educator and SPIN program leader in Fall River, Massachusetts. “That’s a start, but this program really takes it to the next level. It empowers students by teaching them how to see through marketing tactics and make their own informed food and beverage choices.”

How?  Through the balance of power principle.  Whenever the teens spend something (such as their money or time), they make choices that affect their power.  For example, when they buy a food or beverage, what are they really getting for that money – something that helps build and protect their bodies?  Or something that gives them calories and little else (like soda)?  When they spend their time, do they choose activities that give them strength and energy?  Or do they sit and watch television?  SPIN gives teens the tools to evaluate and compare their choices – like reading nutrition labels, preparing simple snacks, and tracking steps with a pedometer. But the choices are theirs. 

Through SPIN, teens also learn that while advertising has its place, it’s important to recognize what advertisers do and don’t tell us.  In a virtual “visit” to Madison Avenue the teens become marketing executives, learning how companies use celebrities, tag lines, and bright colors to woo their customers.   The teens even design their own product packaging—for superpower cereal, say, or glow-in-the-dark juice boxes—discovering how easy it is to make something sound great.  Later in SPIN, as “fast food executives,” teens see how the high-fat, high-sugar, and low-nutrient foods give the companies their greatest profits.     

And it’s working. Students report that they’re less afraid to try new or unfamiliar foods, be it granola bars or hummus. Teachers regularly thank SPIN educators for opening their students’ eyes to the importance of nutrition. And administrators at the middle schools that offer SPIN as an after-school program have been so impressed that they’ve made the class a part of the regular daily curriculum, enabling NEP to engage even more young people at just the right age to transform their thinking and their health for life.

“These kids are at the point of trying to establish who they are and what they believe in,” says Pat Bebo, Extension educator and program supervisor at the Fall River NEP office. “At this age, they don’t have the opportunity to make many decisions on their own, but we’re showing them one thing they do have power over—making a healthy choice. They’re learning that it really is up to them.”

SPIN programs are also offered through NEP offices in Brockton and Lawrence.