My First 51 Years Teaching Microbiology at The Community College of Baltimore County

I have had just one job interview in my life and it was for the position of Biology Instructor at Catonsville Community College. Having just completed my M.S. Degree at Northern Illinois University, I knew I needed employment because I was moving to Maryland prior to September 1970. After enquiring about the possibility of a teaching position at 4 Maryland community colleges, I was granted an interview at Catonsville Community College. On May 4, 1970, I found myself driving from Illinois to Maryland for a real job interview. I remember the date because I was listening on my car radio to the aftermath of the Kent State shooting earlier that day. The interview apparently went well because I was offered the position beginning in September for the amazing salary of $10,000! My professional life had begun. Armed with little more than a love of microbiology and a lot of patience and desire, I began the journey to hopefully become the best microbiology educator of which I am capable. Fifty-one years later I am still striving for that goal.

Qualitative Evaluation of University Students’ Experience Delivering the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) Program

Objectives The purpose of this research was to explore the perception of Northern Illinois University (NIU) students regarding delivery and benefits of the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) program in northern Illinois elementary schools. Methods The Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) program is a nationally accredited obesity prevention program that teaches children about nutrition, physical activity, and decreasing screen time. Every semester, undergraduate and graduate students from Northern Illinois University (NIU) participate in an experiential learning rotation with CATCH and deliver the program in elementary schools. After undergraduate and graduate NIU students delivered the CATCH program in local elementary schools during the 2019–2020 school year, they were sent an email questionnaire to probe their experience with CATCH and to seek suggestions for program improvement. This questionnaire consisted of 5 demographic prompts, followed by 10 open-ended questions. Grounded theory was used to analyze the responses. Two researchers assigned codes to each meaningful segment of data. From these codes, six common themes were identified. Results A total of 21 students responded (50% response rate) to the email questionnaire. The six identified themes include ‘Purpose of CATCH program’, ‘School facilities and resources’, ‘NIU students experience with CATCH lessons and activities’, ‘Benefits to NIU student’, ‘Benefits to children and teachers’, and ‘Identified weaknesses and suggested improvements to CATCH’. Each theme summarizes the NIU students’ responses relevant to that theme, including quotes from respondents. Conclusions University students that delivered the CATCH program appreciated the opportunity to practice in a real world setting, gained transferable professional skills, and learned CATCH program knowledge. Reflections on program content, delivery, and benefits to children can be used to strengthen CATCH and other future nutrition education programs for children. Funding Sources No funding sources were acquired or needed for this research project.

Evaluation of the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) Program in Third Through Fifth Graders in Northern Illinois

Objectives Conducting evaluations of health promotion programs are imperative to determine the program's impact and explore possible improvements in content and delivery. This study's objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of CATCH program, delivered by dietetic interns and Northern Illinois University (NIU) students, to third through fifth graders in Northern Illinois, in increasing their nutrition knowledge and healthy choices behavior. Methods In total, 167 elementary school children in grades third through fifth in Northern Illinois participated in a non-experimental program evaluation study. We delivered six CATCH lessons throughout the academic year to five elementary schools. Lessons were focused on ‘Go, Slow, Whoa’ food categories to help children understand healthier food choices. Validated questionnaires from the CATCH Global Foundation were administered in classrooms and online pre- and post-intervention to assess nutritional knowledge and healthy choices behavior. Results Children in third through fifth grades significantly increased their knowledge about nutrient-dense foods (P < .001 for each grade). Fourth and fifth graders exhibited a significant increase in their ability to make healthier food choices, P = .03 and P = .007 respectively. As grade level increased from third to fifth grade, improvement in nutrition knowledge and adoption of healthy food choices did not increase significantly; third to fourth grade, P = .973 and fourth to fifth grade, P = .637. Conclusions We conclude that children in grades third through fifth who participated in the six lessons of the CATCH program expanded their nutritional knowledge and improved their ability to make healthier choices. This study demonstrates the potential benefits of communiversity collaborations for nutrition education in schools. However, higher grades did not show a greater increase in knowledge or more improvement in making healthy choices than lower grades. Future research should examine the same cohort of children over three years of participation to determine the accumulation of knowledge and behavior improvement. Funding Sources Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Health Center in DeKalb, IL and Northern Illinois University provided funds to procure supplies and cover printing cost of evaluation surveys.