The title of this report can be understood both figuratively and literally – the competition event held within the walls of Szkoła Nr 4 im. Jana Matejki under the motto “Healthy Food – a Healthy Society” was a model example of educational and character-building activities. The students and teachers put a great deal of heart and personal commitment into the preparations, which is why the result was a veritable spiritual feast, raising the level of ecological awareness in the community. We agree with this assessment as observers and... tasters of the appetizing dishes prepared and served by the children themselves, together with the city’s vice-president, engineer WŁADYSŁAW ZUZIAK.
Let us record the most important facts. The date of the event was 27 April, the venue was the school gymnasium, and the participants were several hundred pupils and teachers, including some from outside the “Fourth”, as well as sponsors who funded prizes for the winners of the competition. The protagonists were pupils from grades VI–VIII, who prepared appetizing assortments of healthy-food dishes, mainly from fruit and vegetables (the Warsaw “Mariott” hotel might have envied the quantity of imaginative salads). The verbal presentation, knowledge of nutritional values and manner of serving all mattered, including the aesthetics of the tables, where rich bouquets of colorful garden flowers blossomed. The teams’ presentations were interrupted by amusing artistic performances and demonstrations, including acrobatic gymnastics as a synonym for health and physical fitness – the effects of eating healthy food. The lectures by specialists from the Children’s Ecological Academy, aerobics, performances by the vocal ensemble and choir, humor, enthusiastic cheering and the slogans on the banners were all well received. Something of the atmosphere of a creative, active and liberated school, a school of the future... Everything took place under the attentive and kind eye of Headmistress ANNA HIL and the discreet care of teachers who identified wholeheartedly with “their” school. It is difficult to single out just one element: the apt concept, the event’s scale, the precision and mastery of its execution, the children’s joy and experiences, or the educational and character-building effects. The results of the work were eloquently demonstrated by the fact that the tables, abundantly laden with colorful, delicious treats, were emptied to the last crumb in no time after the gathering. After all, this meeting was addressed to children, and they were the most important...