INSPIRING & INNOVATING! NEVER STOP
N ow that summer is here, it is a chance for school nutrition professionals to recharge, reflect, and refresh. Life is ever changing, advancing, and presenting new challenges and adventures. It is good to take time to look back on the previous school year so you can see what new things you want to apply in the upcoming year. For many school nutrition professionals, sum- mer may offer some downtime - or at least a less hectic time. Take this time to reflect on the past year and determine: • What worked • What didn’t work • What changed • What trends started • What you learned Take these reflections and use them to be in- novative for the next school year. This is your opportunity to implement ideas and start the year with new expectations. Here are a few ideas to consider: • Determine your serving line set-up to display your best sellers and encourage healthy options. • Add a new food item or recipe to the menu. • Implement new menu tasting methods and develop a survey to gather feedback from students on what new foods they like. • Learn a new culinary technique and then teach it to your staff.
outside of the box. Check out social media posts to see what other programs around you are doing. Network with other school nutrition programs to see what has been successful for them. Talk to your staff and gather their input. Propose ideas, have discussions, and see if something new may work. Frontline staff may have received helpful insights from their stu- dents. Empower your staff to share ideas, suc- cesses, and challenges. Child nutrition changes and evolves with the times. Use the summertime to improve your- self and your staff. The ICN can help by offering a variety of free trainings and resources. Train- ings include face-to-face, virtual instructor-led trainings (VILT), and self-paced online courses, videos, and webinars on iLearn. The ICN also has several types of resources available in- cluding fact sheets, guides, recipes, templates, checklists, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) - all for FREE! Knowledge is strength so arm yourself with as much free knowledge as you can. Want to learn a new culinary tech- nique? The Culinary Institute of Child Nutru- tion (CICN) has resources for that. Need more information about food allergies? The ICN has resources for that. Want to improve your HR game? The ICN has resources for that too. You can visit our website (theicn.org) to see all the wonderful resources available. Each year, the ICN also offers a “Back to School Toolbox” packed with valuable tools for school nutrition professionals. This year’s toolbox includes a handy checklist for opening the kitch-
Summertime provides the chance to give yourself the time and space to be curious and creative. Think
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