SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Grade 5 students at J.H. Sissons School have been put in charge of selling milk in their school to raise money for a student canoe trip.

Community dietitian Audra Donison, back, and, from left, Grade 5 students Chloe Hoechsmann, Jesper Sorensen and Niva Stephenson promote the Good to Grow program at J.H. Sissons School on Tuesday. Students will sell milk three times a week in the school. - Adrian Lysenko/NNSL photo

"We are drinking half as much milk and twice as much pop as we were 30 years ago," said Audra Donison, a community dietitian with Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. "The ages of nine to 18 are your main bone building years in your life. It's like a bank; if you don't put enough in the bank, you don't have enough money to take out for the rest of your life."

The program got started when teachers from the school approached the parent advisory committee (PAC) with the idea for the program which encourages healthy choices. Donison, who is co-chair of the committee, jumped at the opportunity to be part of the program.

"The PAC was very supportive of it," said Donison. "Me being the community dietitian, I wasn't just supportive of it, I was like, 'I would love to help you, please let me be involved.'"

The program is called Good to Grow and Grade 5 students will be selling and distributing the milk throughout the school.

"They are in charge of managing this project," said Monique Marinier, a Grade 5 teacher at the school.

"It's a good way of being responsible and taking leadership in the school and is very important when they head into middle school.

"I am blown away with how great the Grade 5s have been in terms of getting involved, planning," said Donison. "Their enthusiasm and their helpfulness has been beyond expectations."

The milk will cost $1 per carton and will be sold three times a week. The profit from the sales will fund a student canoe trip at the end of the school year.

"Lots of fundraisers in schools in the past have been for unhealthy food and I think it's great that a school is using healthy food," said Donison.

On Monday and Tuesday Donison visited classes in the school to explain the benefits of drinking milk.

For the younger students, Donison demonstrated how milk gets from the field with the help of two Grade 5 students who dressed up as a farmer and cow.

Chloe Hoechsmann, a Grade 5 student, said she got involved in the program because of the leadership aspect but also to promote a healthy lifestyle.

"We want to support kids so they have enough calcium in their body so in the rest of their life in their adult age they're not rolling around in wheelchairs," she said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.