Donna Wands

Wands’ winning project, “What’s Cooking”, is created to give her students at West Newton Elementary hands-on experience in the kitchen with their parents, encourage parent volunteerism, and challenge students and their families to make healthy eating choices by educating them on healthy alternatives in meal preparation. With the busy schedules of most families, mealtime can be challenging as everyone may be rushing to do different activities. Instead of making quick, poor choices in eating out of convenience, Wands wants her students to learn to make simple and nutritious meals that can be eaten at different times by different family members. By having an active share in preparing each and every dish, the students will ideally be excited about sharing the recipe with family and friends. In addition to the focus on the family, her students will also prepare a meal for a local homeless shelter as a way of giving back to the community. The weekly recipes will be organized by category, coupled with articles and nutritional information in the student’s binder to take home to share. Wands lives in Covington.