MOUNT VERNON — Dan Emmett Elementary School is keeping pupils’ energy going with fresh fruits and vegetables, thanks to a grant from the Ohio Department of Education.
Each day, students sample a different fruit or vegetable, some familiar to the students and some perhaps more exotic and less familiar. The list includes red bananas, rainbow carrots, radishes, spinach, watermelon, kiwi and snow peas.
Principal Margy Arck said the afternoon “snack” is well-received by the students, who look forward to each day’s offering.
When the News visited, jicama (pronounced hee-ka-ma) was the vegetable of the day. High in vitamins C, A and B along with calcium and phosphate, it is a crunchy root vegetable that is also known as a Mexican turnip. Students in Kristina Lanning’s third-grade class were divided as to whether or not they liked jicama, which they said tastes sort of like a raw potato.
“It’s gross,” about half the class said.
“It’s all right,” others claimed.
“It needs salt,” someone added.
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