Hurley students, staff take part in Crunch celebration

By IAN MINIELLY

[email protected]

Hurley - The Hurley K-12 school is celebrating National School Lunch Week as part of National Farm to School Month.

On Thursday at noon, Hurley hosted the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch, providing an apple to every student in the school.

Suzette Pertile said the Department of Public Instruction has been doing this for four years, but it is the first year Hurley is taking part in the Crunch.

Pertile said the school received 625 Red Delicious apples for free, so every student would have the opportunity to have a healthy snack at lunch.

Destiny Cannon helped Pertile by walking around the gym before the chomping took place and giving her fellow students a sticker that read, "Crunch," with a picture of an apple on it.

Pertile said she wants kids to eat healthy and this was a good way to do that.

The event has achieved 1 million crunches this year as schools across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio crunched apples Thursday at noon.

According to the National Farm to School Month website, thousands of schools, early care and education sites, including farms and communities across the country, are celebrating food education, school gardens and lunch trays filled with healthy food.

In the 1990s, only a handful of schools participated in the National Farm to School Network, but according to the website,42,000 schools across all 50 states have partnered together for healthy food.

Hurley is also holding a guess the correct number of jelly beans in the jar contest this week. The winner of the contest will receive a basket of goodies.

Additional details on the network and program are available at farmtoschool.org. and cias.wisc.edu/applecrunch/.