Elementary middle school celebrates value of dairy

Ridge Spring-Monetta Elementary/Middle School's youngest students liked their milk mustaches Wednesday - and were delighted by Mr. Healthy Cow, too.

"We're celebrating World School Milk Day," said Glenda Wafford, the Aiken County School District's food services director. "We're stressing the importance of drinking milk and having a healthy, nutritious lunch."

Mr. Healthy Cow was provided by Coburg, the distributor of dairy products throughout the school district. Preschool and kindergarten students got to greet the character in the morning, and other students through eighth grade met him later in the day.

Aiken County Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt and District 1 School Board member Dr. John Bass also participated in the event, good-naturedly sporting milk mustaches.

Mickela Mitchell, a registered dietician with the Southeast United Dairy Industry Association, attended the event and provided the mustache recipe: Simply mix milk and vanilla ice cream and blend in two to three tablespoons of vanilla instant pudding.

Mitchell is based in Rock Hill and represents the association throughout South Carolina.

"We're excited that Ridge Spring-Monetta included us in our celebration today," she said. "Milk is so important for the health of kids. We know they don't get enough dairy, and we're here to help them remember about the nine essential vitamins. They don't get all of them in other parts of their diet."

Mitchell said adults as well as children should get three servings of milk, yogurt or cheese daily. Doctors and nutritionists recommend 1 percent and no-fat milk and other dairy products, she said. The school district provides 1 percent milk in all cafeterias, Wafford said.

RS-M principal Callie Herlong, who is also a mother, said she makes sure her sons get enough milk to drink.

"Our cafeteria offers milk as a priority, and it's important to educate our students," she said. "We do offer chocolate and strawberry milk."

The flavored milk products have the same essential vitamins, and children tend to drink more of it, Mitchell said.

"A little bit of added sugar is well worth the trade-off for the nutrition that kids get," she said.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.