TRUE KIDS 1

Young people spend most of their week at school, and yet school lunches too often don’t provide the nutrition children need. When offered healthy foods, their palettes have a hard time adjusting, now completely accustomed to the flavors of easily-accessed candy, salty snack foods, and sugary drinks. While these things can be consumed in moderation, in excess they bring on debilitating health issues later in life.

Mind Over Meals: Teen Diet in New Mexico is a documentary and education campaign to discuss what teens in New Mexico are eating at home and in schools, what they are (or are not) being taught in schools, what food is available to them – and what programs or solutions might orient teens towards healthier lifestyles. While the completed documentary will air on various local channels such as NM-PBS, with plenty of lead up from a robust social-media presence (YouTube and Instagram), just as importantly we’ll create a set of discussion guides and lesson plans to shape conversation after a classroom screening. These easily accessed educational presentations can offer a solution-oriented dialogue led by any instructor, local expert, or even by teens themselves. In our experience, this kind of peer-to-peer experience is absolutely crucial in getting core messages across. The project will involve students at every level of production; from brainstorming and interview strategies to filming and editing.