Southern Miss Alumna Lingsch Receives Award at Conference

Kelsey Lingsch, a graduate from the Department of Food and Nutrition Systems at The University of Southern Mississippi, received the Kathleen Stitt Award for her project titled ““=Mississippi's First Annual Farm to School Week: Evaluation of School Participation” at the School Nutrition Association's Annual National Conference in Kansas City, Mo.

The award was created to encourage research in child nutrition topics and is given annually to either a full-time graduate students or faculty member from an accredited college or university. To be eligible, recipients must apply and be accepted to present in The Child Nutrition Showcase.

The conference draws professionals, researchers and students in the field of school nutrition who work to make healthy school meals available to all children.

“Kelsey's project was the first of its kind in Mississippi. Her tireless efforts helped to establish a benchmark for measuring the growth of Farm to School Programs in our state. The School Nutrition Association only presents one Kathleen Stitt Award each year and Kelsey is absolutely deserving of this very high honor,” said her advisor Dr. Alicia Landry, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Systems.

Lingsch now works for the Diabetes Care Group in Jackson, Miss. She delivers Nutrition Education to diabetics about how to be healthy, manage their weight, and improve patient self-management/clinical outcomes. Lingsch continues to be involved with Farm to School Week and has remained active with the School Nutrition Association.

For more information about the Department of Food and Nutrition Systems, visit http://www.usm.edu/nutrition.