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Gaston County hosts 'Speedway to Healthy' exhibit from North Carolina A&T
Summary
Gaston County hosted 'Speedway to Healthy,' an 11-room interactive exhibit on loan from North Carolina A&T State University designed to teach K–5 students about nutrition; the university covered transport costs and organizers hope to make it an annual program.
GASTON COUNTY — Gaston County recently hosted "Speedway to Healthy," an 11-room interactive exhibit on loan from North Carolina A&T State University intended to teach children about healthy eating and hygiene.
The exhibit, developed by North Carolina A&T State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and education department, is designed for kindergarten through fifth grade. "This is Speedway to Healthy," said Speaker 1, a presenter in the transcript, introducing the unit and its activities. The program uses role-play and hands-on stations so students learn how different foods affect the body.
Speaker 1 said the exhibit addresses rising rates of childhood obesity: "over the last past 30 years, the rate of childhood obesity has risen," and the program aims to reduce obesity and related conditions such as kidney disease by teaching nutrition and healthy habits. Organizers described the experience as immersive, comparing it to "our version of the magic school bus," and noted scheduled visits included third-grade students from three different elementary schools.
The exhibit includes interactive demonstrations. In one governed activity, Speaker 2 guided children through a narrated scenario and a germs demonstration, instructing students to shake hands and then checking for visible 'germs' to illustrate hygiene and germ transmission. "See all the germs on her hand? Ew," Speaker 2 said during the activity, which staff described as part of the learning process.
Speaker 1 said the exhibit is provided at no cost to counties: it is owned by the university and supported by a university fund that underwrites development and transport so participating counties are not charged. "This is free," Speaker 1 said. Gaston County hosted Speedway to Healthy for the first time, and Speaker 1 said organizers hope to recruit volunteers to offer the program annually if sustained volunteer support can be found.
The event combined hands-on learning about nutrition and hygiene with in-class and mobile activities intended for young students. No formal county action, vote, or funding commitment beyond hosting was recorded in the transcript.
