A Two-Pronged Approach To Promote Food Science In U.S. High Schools

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the IFT Foundation, and Discovery Education partnered to create and distribute food science information to science department and school counselor chairs in all 18000 U.S. high schools in January 2006. Twomultimedia "kits" were generated for teachers and counselors, each consisting of DVDs with food science technical or career information, respectively, and a call to action to visit a newly created web microsite. To support and promote the program, IFT initiated a "Food Science Ambassador" program, where IFT member food scientists complete a brief survey indicating their interest in speaking with or visiting teachers, students, and counselors to discuss the field of food science or give a demonstration. IFT, through the career guidance committee, exhibited and conducted workshops at the National Science Teachers Association regional and national conferences, and coordinated a "Train the Trainer" program at the IFT Annual Meeting in Florida for local area science teachers and Food Science Ambassadors. Survey results from kit recipients were overwhelmingly positive, with over 97% of the respondents indicating that they intend to use the materials. The microsite developed for this program received over 18000 unique visits in the first 6 mo, and traffic to the IFT Teacher Resources web page increased. In the first 6 mo of its availability, nearly 250 IFT members have signed up to be Food Science Ambassadors. Long-term metrics for success are in place and continue to be monitored.