Student physicians teach Boys & Girls Club members about nutrition

MOULTRIE — On a fall day after school, members of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Boys & Girls Club gathered around three raised beds behind the club’s parking lot. The beds were filled with soil and plants. Club members were learning about growing their own food and nutrition from a group of student physicians from the nearby osteopathic medical college.

Peas, bell pepper and butter crunch lettuce plants filled one of the beds, where Boys & Girls Club members took turns using watering cans and spraying neem oil on the plants to keep pests away. That day three members of PCOM South Georgia’s Student National Medical Association provided directions and asked questions about the afternoon’s nutrition lesson and lessons from previous weeks.

Emeka Ikeakanam, aka “Mr. E” to the students, quizzed the group of Boys & Girls Club members known as the Garden Club.

Their eager responses included words such as “cholesterol,” “fiber,” “chlorophyll” and “calcium.” Then club members asked “Mr. E” plenty of their own questions. Ikeakanam’s fellow SNMA members, Savannah Finley and Nahimie Louissant, joined in with answers.

Planning for the garden project began in the fall of 2022 with the first planting in the spring of 2023. That first round of the project was so successful that SNMA members decided to continue with a fall 2023 garden.

“This project started from a desire to engage students in learning more about nutrition, and the benefits of healthy food and a healthy lifestyle,” SNMA member Schiley Pierre Louis said. “It is one thing to know that we should eat healthy food, but it is better when there is a tangible example of what it means and the process that makes it a reality. Moreover, gardening can also teach valuable life lessons that apply beyond gardening.”

SNMA members received funding for the project through the Albert D’Alonzo, DO Endowed Memorial Award, which is presented by PCOM Institutional Advancement.

In addition to growing vegetables, the SNMA members plan to grow the project in the future by adding classes on healthy cooking, buying healthy food on a budget and finances. They would also like to involve the club members’ parents more in an effort to address food insecurity among children in Moultrie.

“One thing I hope the members take away from this is the inherent enthusiasm for learning about nutrition,” Ikeakanam said. “There are many aspects of nutrition that they are currently learning from us, such as vitamins and minerals, healthy eating and self-sustainability through growing food. However, if the members can retain the motivation to learn about nutrition throughout their lives, that will lead to them living healthier lives and give them the ability to impact others through their own initiatives.”

For some club members, the garden project could be an inspiration.

“I hope the students will be inspired to grow their own personal gardens someday, be involved in other community gardens, teach others, or even pursue agriculture as a career,” Finley said.

In addition to Ikeakanam, Finley, Louissant and Louis, other SNMA members who worked on the garden project include Terrance Orange, Sara Meawad, Dana Marie-Gould, Nicholas Bohannon, Evan Curry, Tyanna McCladdie, Janai Groves, Greg Rasmussen, Ericka Westbrook, Ruhdeep Randhawa and Alize Berrios.

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