School Nutrition Association March 2012 : Page 13
four children, worked as a bread maker in the local schools and in 1991 entered the cafeteria manager trainee program. After 10 years of managing elementary and second-ary school kitchens, she joined the central offi ce team as an application processing specialist. Today in her work as account clerk III, Davis processes all food orders, reconciles inventories and prepares vendor information so that the school system can issue payments. “I enjoy the math and getting everything balanced,” she says, “and I enjoy my interactions with managers and still maintain my own SNA certifi cation.” At the time her husband died, he was already retired, and Davis had planned to join him in retirement in a few years. Today, however, her college degree fi lls Davis with new purpose. “Now I have no reason to retire,” she explains. “I love what I’m doing, hope my degree can help me be better and I plan on working here as long as I can!” SN Meet Yvette Parker A s nutrition services support lead for Hillsboro (Ore.) School District 1J, Yvette Parker, SNS, makes more than 60 classroom presentations a year. Over the course of the last school year, she provided nutrition education in 22 of the district’s 25 elementary schools. Parker joined the Hillsboro district in 1996 and managed individual cafeterias for the next 13 years. In 2004, however, a teacher asked her to make a guest presenta-tion about nutrition. That led to two more invitations the following year and morphed into 20 guest talks in 2006! By 2009, as invitations continued to mount, the district decided to convert her extracurricular activities into a full-time position. Fruitful First With her expanded role, Parker looked to enhance her professional development. She was already a regular at Oregon School Nutrition Association (OSNA) state conferences and had earned her SNS credential. “But I’m a 10-month employee,” she continues, “and have no paychecks in the summer when the SNA Annual National enough to sit through presentations and read instructions, but young enough so that eating habits have not yet fully formed and are open to change. “Being a ‘guest speaker’ gives you credibility with young kids, so that they perceive your message as important,” reports Parker. “Also, you’re a voice they don’t hear every day. So if you speak with passion, they feel your energy. But keep presentations simple and fast to fi t their attention spans, and use lots of visuals and props,” she advises. For example, she uses “the rainbow on your plate” Current Title: concept, asking youngsters, “What Nutrition Services colors did you eat today?” Then Support Lead she connects her theme to school City, State: lunch by declaring, “You can get all Hillsboro, Ore. your colors at our cafeteria!” Parker’s passion is fueled in Favorite School Food as a Kid: part by her own experience with Baked potato bar childhood lessons about healthy eating. Growing up in Profession You’d Yvette Parker, SNS Choose If Not Oregon, her mother School Nutrition: introduced her to a variety of Cruise ship chef foods, and she spent many happy days in her grandparents’ Dream Dinner Guests: vegetable garden. “By age six,” Parker Paula Deen and Oprah Winfrey recounts, “I knew that I wanted a career related to food.” After attending the Favorite Subject in School: Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Ore., Chemistry she interned at a hotel, got her fi rst job in a restaurant and went on to manage the Hobbies: Camping, reading, kitchen at a Hillsboro retirement home. going to the beach—and “my After serving at a variety of healthcare three kids!” facilities, Parker married and sought work with a less-demanding schedule as she looked to start a family. That led her, in Disneyland” full of stimulating experiences. 1996, to Hillsboro School District 1J. Now “Spending a week with thousands of people with plans to attend the next ANC this who share your passion is so empowering,” coming July in Denver, she looks forward to she affi rms, “and it gave me immense pride in my profession and in what our own district keeping her work in nutrition education on an upward trajectory. is doing. That level of conviction makes you And for fi rst-time ANC attendees making more effective in communicating about your plans for the 2012 meeting this July in program to students, parents and the Denver, Parker can offer advice as a veteran: community.” “Absorb it all!” she counsels. “Even sampling the local cuisine can expose you to Educate and Energize Because good new learning experiences. Just put yourself communication is the key to Parker’s out there! Say hello to people in the effectiveness in the classroom, she has elevator or waiting in line for the shuttle bus. thought long and hard about “what works” That person might provide your next in nutrition education. First, her team has light-bulb moment.” SN decided to focus efforts on 2nd-and 3rd-graders as the primary target audience Mark Ward is a freelance writer in Victoria, Texas. for classroom activities. Students are old Conference [ANC] is held.” So last year her director, Cindy Longway, nominated Parker for an ANC First-Timer Scholarship. Each year, 20 such scholarships are distributed on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis to nominated managers and employees who have never attended ANC. The $500 award enabled Parker to join four Hillsboro colleagues in attending the 2011 ANC held last July in Nashville. Parker found ANC to be a “professional WWW.SCHOOLNUTRITION.ORG • School Nutrıtıon 13
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