USC’s Healthy Carolina initiative is aiming to promote healthy eating among USC students with its series of Gamecocks Eat Well cooking classes.
The classes, taught by a registered dietitian, guide students through a series of nutritious recipes. The most recent class, held on Wednesday night in Maxcy kitchen, was themed “Brinner is Served.”
“We also try to focus on low-cost meals, because college students are broke,” Olivia Jolly, USC’s outreach dietitian, said.
Students prepared yogurt parfaits, egg scrambles and oven-baked potatoes at Wednesday night’s class. Jolly emphasized cooking education and proper nutrition as one of the main goals of the program.
“If we can teach college students now, when they’re making that transition to taking care of themselves, they can realize the importance of cooking healthy meals,” she said.
Many students have also gotten involved with the initiative. Victoria Holm, a third-year marketing and management major, began volunteering with Healthy Carolina through the farmers market on Greene Street and now assists Jolly with the cooking classes.
“A lot of college students, I don’t think they actually understand what is in what they’re eating and how different it is if you cook it for yourself versus buying it at a store,” Holm said.
Holm also encouraged students to learn to use their meal plans wisely and added that one of her personal goals is to promote health-consciousness through the cooking classes.
“I like seeing people get a little more confident in their knowledge and ability to take care of themselves,” she said.
Several of the students in attendance on Wednesday night had participated in the previous Gamecocks Eat Well classes, and they had positive feedback to share about their experiences with the program.
Cassandra Converse, a fourth-year biological sciences student, said that she was hoping to learn skills that she could integrate into other dishes.
Emma McGoldrick, a second-year biological sciences student, added that the cookie recipe from the previous class was “a great low-calorie, healthier sweet option.”
Healthy Carolina is a broad campus-wide initiative to promote health and wellness, including promotion of mental, physical and emotional well-being.
The next Gamecocks Eat Well class will be held on March 22 at 5:30pm in Maxcy Kitchen.