Adam Shock Senior Project Proposal

A. ABSTRACT

The Topic of my senior project will be on the laws of food labeling and ingredient
disclosure. It will be called Proper Nutrition Saves Lives and will be focused on children from
about age 11- 14, or middle school age. I chose to use this topic because I love both law and
food, which, when combined, deal with nutrition and the disclosure of nutrition. 300,000 people
die due to obesity in America alone. This number can be severely cut with not only the disclosure
of nutrition, but the knowledge of what to do with it.

Some questions that will guide my research paper are as follows:

1. What can the government do or has it done to help Americans to eat more
healthy?
2. What laws are in place to educate the general population on food and nutrition if
any?
3. What are restaurants required to disclose about their food and is it justified?

I am planning on doing a class or two on nutrition and what is really in fast food to show
how unhealthy it is for the body. Even though it tastes good, it isnt good to eat too regularly. I
will stress moderation because even if it is unhealthy, it should be more of a treat than a
regularity. The kids will also be taught about how to balance food groups to fit their needs and
some ways to learn more about this skill that many adults lack. I will also teach them how to read
a food label because it is vital to creating a personalized diet that works for the individual. I will
talk through a couple of stories which I will collect through actual interview, or if that fails,
through stories online that can be verified as true. The stories will be about families or people
who have been negatively affected by obesity, whether that may be them being obese, or losing
someone to obesity. My consultant for this project will be Mrs. Buehler who teaches catering and
Foods I and II. She is very informed on the topic of nutrition and will be a great resource in this
respect. I also want to demonstrate how unhealthy fast food is by having the kids guess how
many calories and how many calories from fat are in one of their favorite foods. They will also
be given different kinds of foods to taste test and hopefully see that the homemade foods taste
better than the processed food theyre used to. I can also make a Kahoot if theyre allowed
devices. In it, I can highlight the main concepts of the class along with reinforce some shocking
facts about food that they commonly put into their bodies. I hope to complete any classes
sometime in February at Virginia Beach Middle School because they are intelligent enough for
my message to get through to some of them, and they are young enough for it to possibly stick
with them and make an impression on them.
My success will be based on how much I am able to teach them. I will take a survey in
the beginning and end of class to evaluate how much I was able to teach them and take another
survey if I come back for a follow up. I will need to print the surveys, but I will also have to
make information cards or create a powerpoint Jeopardy to make the information Im presenting
interactive. The food I will have for them will take some money but not too much if I choose
healthy but inexpensive foods. I will have to make a powerpoint and come up with some
interactive pieces to the class which may further add to my material list.

B. LEARNING SKILLS

New Skills: Teaching, Creating a Lesson Plan,

Enhanced Skills: Public Speaking, Writing, Time Management

C. MARKETING PLAN/FACILITIES/AUDIENCE

My venue was carefully selected as middle school children at Virginia Beach Middle
School because they are in a time of their life where they all mostly have a relatively high
metabolism. This means that they still have somewhat of a safeguard against obesity until it
slows down in about a decade. Teaching nutrition skills would be an excellent way to give them
the means to stay healthy and active. I chose VB Middle specifically because it is a venue close
to where I live meaning it wont be inconvenient to get to if i need to frequent it often.

D. PROJECT STEPS

Preliminary Plan dates of classes, one class and one 5

Steps follow up. Contact VB Middle.

Midway Follow up with VB Middle, contact 6

Steps speakers and professionals,

Final Steps Make final arrangements with VB 5

Middle, confirm any and all speakers/
professionals, get all necessary materials

Follow up Thank you letters, Collect surveys 4

Total 20

E. PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

To document this project, I will keep record of all emails and texts that I send out or
receive. I will also keep all pictures and videos with the emails and texts in a folder on a flash
drive and on my google drive so I can access it anytime and so it is backed up. The lesson plan
that I am going to create will be kept as documentation along with any interviews I take and the
surveys I will give out.

F. PROJECT JUSTIFICATION

This can be a great project. Not only would it be positive for the kids and the community,
but it would teach me how to plan for a class and teach children quite a few years younger than
myself. It will require a lot of time to create the plan and to get any guest speakers to either help
me or speak with the class themselves. I also hope to inform the kids about how nutrition affects
them in later life and why its important to practice it now. I hope to teach them some skills that
they can use throughout their lives which will be invaluable.

G. PROJECT-PAPER CONNECTION

My legal research paper is going to be done on nutrition facts displayed on food items
sold to the general public. For my project I will teach kids how to read that information and what
it means along with a connection to obesity and how that affects the body and the lifespan. This
connects because I am teaching the kids how to read and comprehend a label and my paper will
focus on the laws surrounding that label and how they can be improved to help the American
society make more informed decisions on what to put in their bodies.

H. ACADEMIC HONESTY

Academic honesty to me is not lying about the work I have done and working within all
rules and guidelines given to me. Honesty to me is not lying and only telling the truth. Plagiarism
is taking someone elses work and using it as my own. I know that the consequences of breaking
these rules can be as severe or worse than being expelled from the Legal Studies Academy at
First Colonial High School.
I understand that any academic dishonesty by me on any part of the project will result in
failure of the Senior Project and forfeiture of the Legal Studies Seal on my High School diploma.