Students at the University of Colorado at Boulder have started an initiative to help freshman pursue healthy lifestyles and combat the freshman 15. The project was originally assigned for freshman writing class that was being asked to engage the public in rhetoric, but has since grown beyond the classroom.
Although the idea of being healthy remains somewhat relative and ambiguous in the minds of many college students, almost anyone would agree that local farmer’s markets fall into the “healthy” category, which is why that became the starting point for the student’s initiative.
Rachel Stevens is a freshman at CU and one of the student’s behind the initiative admits is currently in the idea stage more than anything. “We hope to get people in the habit of going to the [farmers] market,” Stevens said. “The project started in a classroom, but it doesn’t have to stay there. While we are seeing a lot of interest from others [at CU] we hope to get as many people as possible interested in healthy eating from outside our classroom. We also want to spread the idea to other schools around the nation.”
The students who started the project are hoping to raise awareness about the importance of healthy decisions during college and show people that buying local produce is good not only for them, but also for the local economy. So far they have received a positive response.
“We have gotten a large group of kids to accompany us to the market with positive feedback from each and every one of them,” Stevens said. “Many were surprised at the variety of foods in the market and claimed that they would be back again for more.”
And, they hope that the project will only continue to grow as they see it benefitting college students across the nation, from California to Maine.
“This is only the beginning of our project,” Stevens said. “We have reached a sufficient number of people, but we are always yearning for more interest.”
For a list of farmers markets in Los Angeles, click here.
