Success Stories: Smart Snacks in School

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s updated nutrition standards go into effect at the start of the 2014–2015 school year, more schools across America will be offering healthier snacks and drinks in vending machines, stores, and à la carte lines.

Many schools participating in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program have already replaced unhealthy snacks and drinks with more nutritious choices—and found that students will buy and eat healthier foods. Read the success stories on this page to learn more about 10 schools leading the way in the national movement for healthier school foods and beverages.

School Successes

• Southern Middle School in Lexington, Ky., is selling healthier snacks in its school store. Food service revenue has been stable and the school’s cross country coach has reported that the athletes have more energy. 
• In Anderson County School District 4 in Pendleton, S.C., all meals and snacks already meet the updated nutrition standards. By promoting the healthier choices, the district has kept students happy and revenues up.
  
• Students in Alabama’s Perry County School District are drinking more water after schools replaced the unhealthy vending machine options with water and 100 percent fruit juice. 
  
• Students embraced the healthier snacks being sold in the school store at the High School for Public Service in New York City and they actually run the store at lunch and after school. In the fall of 2013, the store saw a profit of $2,000.

“We sell as many bottles of water now as what we sold of soda five years ago.”–Jeff Wiles, principal of Plattsmouth High School in Nebraska.

About the Healthy Schools Program

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program developed nutrition guidelines for school snacks and drinks in 2006, which helped inform USDA’s updated standards. These national updates are long overdue and strongly supported by parents, educational leaders, and health advocates—including the more than 200,000 who weighed in or spoke out in favor of USDA’s updates.

Related Content