Students from West Lane Elementary School in Jackson and Millersville Attendance Center celebrated National Nutrition Month in March by building a food pyramid and later donating the collected items to the Jackson Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry for Cape Girardeau County residents.

With today's families increasingly eating on the run, many meals are eaten because they are quick to fix and eat but not necessarily nutritious.

"In an effort to increase the awareness of good nutrition and healthy eating, the schools each built a three-dimensional food pyramid from food items of all five food groups," said Kathleen Rice, nurse at both schools.

Presentations explaining the food pyramid were presented at both schools by Laurie Hill of Southeast Missouri Hospital's Generations Center. Students learned which foods provide the necessary nutrients of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. The importance of decreasing the amount of fats and sweets from the daily diet was emphasized and reinforced by their location of limited space at the tip of the pyramid.

At the close of the month all the pyramids were combined to create a giant three-dimensional food guide pyramid. Combined efforts from both schools resulted in 1,992 items gathered collectively for the giant pyramid.

"If the students will take the time now to think about what kind of snack would be the most nutritious, then the activity has sparked the nutritional awareness of the children and has been a worthwhile activity," Rice said.