When it comes to promoting healthy eating habits, South Fayette has hit a home run.

Ken Miller

Brittany Troyer (l), Tracey Sharrow

Quentin Franklin (l), Sean McElhinny

Tricia Wood, supervisor of food services, launched a new ad campaign in May featuring some of the district’s student-athletes extolling the virtues of wholesome grub.

Wearing neatly pressed uniforms, various Lions mugged for the camera amid piles of fruits and vegetables or chugged bottles of milk.

The large posters — created in conjunction with David and Margaret Mihelarakis of David Designer Portraits  — were unveiled in the food court where they received a rumble of applause that could rival that of any Friday night football crowd.

Wood, a nutritional specialist and member of the district’s Wellness Team, came up with her own ads because vendor-submitted artwork just didn’t cut the mustard.

She benched the bland posters in favor of slick, personalized designs.

“Our athletes would be more relatable, more colorful and better role models than some of the posters I have seen,” Wood explained. “I thought it was a great idea to use our athletes to promote our breakfast and lunch programs.”

South Fayette’s cafeteria is a model for other schools, providing a seemingly endless buffet of choices, including breakfast favorites such as cereal and fruit-and-yogurt parfaits and lunchtime goodies like turkey wraps and whole wheat pizza.

As a voluntary member of the National School Lunch Program, South Fayette food services works hand-in-hand with school nurses and physical education instructors to develop nutritional guidelines and an overall student wellness policy to promote health and reduce childhood obesity.

“We have wonderful students, athletes and parents,” Wood said. “We work together and eat together and I try to market our program to reflect healthy living. We have one of the best food services departments and we want everyone to know.”