News

Idaho school district promotes healthier habits with digital menu boards

Idaho's Marsing Joint School District has implemented a multicampus digital menu board program aimed at getting students interested in their eating habits across the district, powered by Mvix, according to an announcement from the digital signage provider.

May 20, 2015

Idaho's Marsing Joint School District has implemented a multicampus digital menu board program across the district, powered by Mvix, according to an announcement from the digital signage provider.

This move by the school district, which was awarded the HealthierUS School Challenge Silver medal, is aimed at getting students interested in their eating habits. The Mvix digital menu boards are intended to play an important role in that effort by helping "to educate students to lead productive, satisfying and responsible lives now and in the future," the company said.

Today's students have more food choices than ever, and not all of them are healthy, so for child nutrition administrators, this means that they need to be even more distinctive in the way they market food, the company said. Children today also tend to be technologically savvy and constantly surrounded by digital imagery, Mvix said, so a strategy of using multimedia to grab and keep their attention makes sense: Digital menu boards marry technology with healthy options, which encourages the kids to make healthy food choices.

The Marsing School District Nutrition Services serves the elementary, middle and high school with one cafeteria. They actively advocate healthy food choices and lifestyles, and were recognized by the HealthierUS School Challenge for the effort, winning the Silver award. The HealthierUS School Challenge was established to recognize schools that are creating healthier school environments through their promotion of good nutrition and physical activity.

"The Mvix digital menu boards are simple and low-cost and most important of all, they help improve the kids' participation in healthier choices while decreasing waste," said Teresa Bettleyon, the district's director of child nutrition. "Bringing this technology to the school district was a goal of mine and after about two years of research I found the right digital menu board solution with Mvix."

The digital menu boards are not only revolutionizing the serving lines, but they're also allowing Bettleyon and her team to add nutritional facts such as calories, fat grams and protein, according to the announcement. "If students are aware of their dietary intake, they can start making better choices," she said. "I am very satisfied with the digital menu boards!"

The Marsing School District also enrolled in the Mvix Managed Service. This service includes a portfolio of offerings for the turnkey and comprehensive management of the digital signage network. The service offerings include content design and production and scheduling; playlist, template and layout setups; monitoring and operational support; and maintenance and network management.

"Digital menu boards are an investment for any school system to consider," said Mike Kilian, the Mvix director of business development. "We're glad to partner with Marsing School District to provide a platform to actively engage students with attention-grabbing content that educates them about a healthy lifestyle."