The FG Kids Model

Our 10 Pillars

It starts with food — but it never stays there.

Nutrition science keeps proving that food doesn’t stay in its lane. What kids eat, and what they believe about their ability to feed themselves well, shapes their confidence, their mood, their identity, their focus, and their futures. FG Kids teaches K-12 students to protect their bodies from the inside out — and in doing so, opens ten doors that stay open for a lifetime.

At A Glance

4 domains. 10 pillars.

Every pillar sorts into one of four questions the FG Kids model answers — tap any pillar below to jump straight to it.

Domain 1 of 4

Who They Become

The internal shifts food education unlocks.

Pillar 01

Self-Efficacy

Food is where students prove “I can do hard things” and “I can take care of myself.” Belief in one’s own ability to act on what they know is the single strongest predictor of lasting dietary change — and that confidence transfers to everything else, mental health included.

Pillar 02

Cultural Identity

Your heritage is not a barrier to health; it’s the doorway to it. By teaching nutrition through the heritage foodways of the African diaspora — African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Afro-Hispanic — students come to see their culture as an asset, not a deficit, and build healthy community around it.

Pillar 03

Life Skills

Shopping, cooking, and moving with intention — the practical, everyday competencies that turn nutrition knowledge into real independence.

Domain 2 of 4

Where They’re Headed

The doors that open once a student can feed themselves well.

Pillar 04

Career Exploration

(Includes student jobs)

Food opens genuine doors — into health, tech, AI, spatial computing, community building, and social entrepreneurship — through shadowing, teaching assistance, and real student roles (leadership and administrative).

Pillar 05

Leadership

Students lead workshops for middle- and elementary-school kids, speak, and run their own sessions — practicing the confidence the program builds.

Domain 3 of 4

How We Teach It

The FG Kids differentiators — the tools and methods that make it stick.

Pillar 06

Technology

Spatial computing — led by Apple Vision Pro — makes nutrition science visible, memorable, and accessible on the devices students already own.

Pillar 07

Research

Students investigate real questions across community nutrition, biology, food studies, food history, and mental health — becoming producers of knowledge, not just consumers of it.

Pillar 08

Media

Students create educational content — recipes, topics, and stories — spreading healthy behavior in their own voice and through their own reach.

Domain 4 of 4

Where It Lives

The relationships and moments that carry the work beyond the classroom.

Pillar 09

Events & Experiences

(Includes field trips)

Student-led events (curricular and extracurricular) plus heritage and cultural-immersion trips connect the classroom to the community and to the wider world.

Pillar 10

Community Building

Everything happens in relationship — at Evans, with families, and through engaged community partners — because health is built together, not alone.

The Thread Through All Ten

None of this happens alone. Every pillar runs through relationship — with Evans High School, with families, with the community partners who show up again and again. That’s not incidental to the model. It’s what holds all ten pillars together, and it’s why the impact outlasts any single lab, cohort, or semester.