In 2007, Westerville City Schools adopted a district-wide wellness policy impacting their 16 elementary schools, four middles schools and three high schools.  The district is the 10th largest in Ohio with more than 14,000 students enrolled in the 23 schools.  Under the new wellness policy, the district recommended that the schools offer healthier snack choices in the vending machines and contacted Cardinal Vending to discuss the revision process.  In Fall 2007, Cardinal Vending introduced the Snackwise ® Nutrition Rating System and met with the Principal and Health & PE Teacher at Westerville North to discuss products that fit into the Snackwise ® Nutrition Rating System: 30% Green, 55% Yellow and 15% Red.  Banners were placed next to the vending machines to explain the Red, Yellow and Green rating system.  Cardinal Vending supplied the district with additional green and yellow products that met the Snackwise ® ratios and provided choices that appealed to the students.  The 2% increase in vending sales revealed the students’ receptiveness to the Snackwise ® program and overall awareness of healthy snack choices.  In addition, teachers implemented nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices into their classroom curriculums to further educate the students.  Westerville City Schools will continue the Snackwise ® system into the 2008-09 school year and Cardinal Vending is optimistic that vending sales will continue to increase as more students recognize the benefits of healthy eating.

Comments from School Staff Members:

• "Cardinal was very responsive to our request to update the produce mix.  They found popular items that our students like and that fit the nutritional guidelines set forth in our wellness policy."

-Kurt Yancey, Westerville North High School

• "The colorful and easy-to-understand graphics of the Snackwise Program helps create a greater awareness and education about healthy snack choices."

- Erin Campbell, Health and PE Teacher, Westerville North High School

Snackwise ® was developed by the Center of Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.For more information on the Snackwise ® Nutrition Rating System, visit

www.snackwise.org/. 

• Date of Program: Began in Fall 2007
• Funding: N/A
• People Impacted by Success: 1,500 students at Westerville North; 14,000 in Westerville City Schools; school staff members also impacted
• Westerville City Schools adopted a district-wide Wellness Policy in 2007, which included recommendations that schools offer healthier snack choices in school vending machines.