Denver Culinarians Bring Their Nutrition Expertise to Washington

Renée Petrillo ‘10, Chefs Birch DeVault and Kerstin Kleber will represent JWU's Denver Campus at White House Luncheon

DENVER, COLO. – June 2, 2010 – Just days after culinary nutrition student Renée Petrillo graduated from JWU, she learned that she was nominated to attend an event on June 4, 2010, on the White House lawn with First Lady Michelle Obama. Operation Frontline nominated Renee for her dedicated outreach efforts to Denver area families. She has served Operation Frontline’s mission of teaching families how to prepare healthier, low-cost meals in order to improve their nutritional value.

Along with Renée, JWU chef-instructors Birch DeVault and Kerstin Kleber, 1,000 chefs will attend this event on the South Lawn called “Chefs Move to Schools” whose goal is to engage food educators and chefs with schools to teach kids about healthier eating and to make it fun. This directly correlates with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Campaign” to help end childhood obesity.

According to the White House press release, “The Chefs Move to Schools program, run through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will pair chefs with interested schools in their communities so together they can create healthy meals that meet the schools dietary guidelines and budgets, while teaching young people about nutrition and making balanced and healthy choices. With more than 31 million children participating in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the National School Breakfast Program, good nutrition at school is more important than ever.”

Renée Petrillo plans on incorporating this nutrition philosophy into her dietetic internship with the Tri-County Health Department in Colorado. The Culinary Nutrition program (bachelor of science) program at JWU, the first of its kind to receive accreditation from the American Dietetic Association, teaches students how to apply nutrition principles and scientific knowledge to their culinary foundation. With their highly developed sensory evaluation techniques and nutrition diagnostic skills, graduates are positioned to work in industry test kitchens, health care facilities and spas, and as private chefs and registered dieticians (after completing a postgraduate dietetic internship).