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Southwest High School program serves up food prep skills, life lessons to young men

One Macon high school is taking what some people learn in the kitchen and teaching it in the classroom with an after-school program

MACON, Ga. — Clipping coupons, grocery shopping and cookies are all basic life skills that are often learned at home.

New this year, a Macon high school is taking what some people learn in the kitchen and teaching it in the classroom via an after-school program.

Chances are you've heard the old saying ‘give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.’ That notion is behind a program at Southwest High School called the Power of the Knot and it's tying young men together through food.

Alicia Mays with the University of Georgia Ag Extension office spends two afternoons a week in a classroom at Southwest High school.

“This will help prepare them for future lives, for college, also prepare them at home helping make meals and snacks and help them to plan a healthier lifestyle,” said Mays.

What stands out about this program isn't so much the teen interest in budgeting and nutritional food options, it's the teens themselves – they’re young men.

“As black males, they label so we want to do something good, so we started a group,” said student Solomon Tharpe Jr.

“It's teaching us to be young men and life lessons in learning life to help us and for us to one day come back and give back,” said student Tachevian Parker.

Kalo Oglesby teaches and oversees The Power of the Knot program.

So, you may be thinking, why the power of the knot – what does that mean? Well, it's in tying the knot – that's the bind that holds us all together.

You can find out more about how to sign up for free Food Talk cooking classes through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program at our Macon Food Story wrap up event, Improving Food Access and Health.

It’s scheduled for Thursday, May 9 from 6-8 p.m. at the Rosa Jackson Recreation Center.

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