Salt Lake City, UT – Beehive Science and Technology Academy recently received a Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award for improving the nutritional quality of their school meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service, in collaboration with Action for Healthy Kids, awarded the Small and/or Rural Lunch Trailblazer Award to Beehive Academy in recognition of improving the nutritional quality of school lunch menus and recipes by meeting weekly sodium guidelines and implementing student engagement and/or nutrition education.
“One of America’s best opportunities to improve child health is by supporting schools in providing tasty and nutritious meals,” said Cindy Long, administrator of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “This Recognition Award highlights the remarkable achievements Beehive Science and Technology has made in offering nutritious meals that students enjoy, and we look forward to them sharing their best practices to help other schools follow in their footsteps. USDA school meal programs reach around 30 million children from all communities and backgrounds across the country.” Rob Bisceglie, Executive Officer & President for Action for Healthy Kids, also congratulated Beehive Academy on this important achievement saying, “The HMI Recognition Awards are an opportunity to showcase innovative school nutrition practices that provide children with access to nutritious school meals.”
Hanifi Oguz, Beehive Academy Executive Director said, “We are pleased to receive this recognition award that highlights Beehive Academy’s dedication to nourish our diverse school community through innovative meals. Our students come from various cultural backgrounds from many parts of the world, and it is important to offer different nationalities comfortable food options that respect cultural dietary restrictions.” He added, “We also want to recognize My Lunch Pro, our school food preparations partner, for helping us provide professionally customized food programs that offer fresh, nutritious meals in our school.”
Located at 2165 East 9400 South in Sandy, UT, Beehive Science and Technology Academy is a non-profit, tuition-free, K – 12 public charter school established in 2005. Beehive Academy provides a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) focused curriculum and programs with other courses designed to also offer students a solid foundation in humanities and social science. The school’s success is reflected in the institution’s growth, graduation rate, and increasing operating budget, which is directly tied to enrollment that has grown from 315 to currently 920 students. For more information, visit https://www.beehiveacademy.org.
About USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service works to end hunger and improve food and nutrition security through a suite of 16 nutrition assistance programs, such as the school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC and SNAP. Together, these programs serve 1 in 4 Americans over the course of a year, promoting consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being. FNS also provides science-based nutrition recommendations through the co-development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. FNS’s report, “Leveraging the White House Conference to Promote and Elevate Nutrition Security: The Role of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service,” highlights ways the agency will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy, released in conjunction with the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. To learn more about FNS, visit www.fns.usda.gov and follow @USDANutrition.
About Action for Healthy Kids
Action for Healthy Kids is dedicated to improving children’s health and well-being by bringing together and mobilizing educators, families, and other key stakeholders to help children lead healthy lives. Through its core programming and family-school partnerships, Action for Healthy Kids has impacted more than 20 million children in 55,000 schools nationwide to address systemic challenges in underserved communities. In 2023, AFHK joined in a cooperative agreement with USDA Food and Nutrition to help implement the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, designed to improve the nutritional quality of school meals through food systems transformation, school food authority recognition, and technical assistance. To learn more about its growing network of volunteers and champions, visit: www.actionforhealthykids.org.
