'Alice' has lesson for Johnson Creek students

By Teresa Stowell of the Daily Times staff
Thursday, December 18, 2008 12:32 PM CST

Ashley Huibregtse, Alice in Dairyland, visited family and consumer education classes at Johnson Creek Junior High Wednesday to promote drinking milk. Huibregtse is pictured showing a class how much sugar is in one serving of Hawaiian Punch. Also pictured is eighth-grader Dominic Baker who helped in the demonstration by measuring out the sugar. (TERESA STOWELL/Daily Times)

JOHNSON CREEK - Junior high students in Johnson Creek learned a little more about what exactly is in their drinks of choice during a visit from Alice in Dairyland, Ashley Huibregtse.

“Who likes chocolate, strawberry or white milk?” Huibregtse asked the family and consumer education class students Wednesday afternoon. “I'm going to fill you in on a little secret - milk is good no matter what color it is.”

During the program “Think Your Drink,” Huibregtse taught the students how to read the nutrition labels on drinks. She brought along orange juice, chocolate milk, Coke, diet Coke, Hawaiian Punch and Gatorade to compare labels and nutritious value and to help the students understand what the labels mean.

“It's important to remember there are nine vitamins and minerals found in milk,” she said. “These other drinks try to trick you by listing the vitamins on the label even though the drink doesn't have it.”

Learning which drinks have natural sugar and artificial sugar was also part of the lesson.

ADVERTISEMENT

Students gasped as one of their classmates carefully filled a glass with a certain amount of sugar to show how much is in a 21-ounce bottle of Hawaiian Punch.

Huibregtse said there are 10 teaspoons of sugar in a 16-ounce bottle of Gatorade, 21 teaspoons of sugar in a 20-ounce bottle of Hawaiian Punch, 17 teaspoons in a 20-ounce bottle of Coke, and six teaspoons of sugar in a 16 ounce bottle of milk.

“I'm going to stick to milk,” Dominic Baker, eighth-grader, said after watching the cup fill up with teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar representing the amount in the Hawaiian Punch.

Huibregtse said although many teenagers think drinking things like Gatorade is great after a game to regain energy, milk is a better alternative.

“Milk has the natural sugar which will help to give you that energy,” Huibregtse said. “Many people really say it's the best drink after a sporting event because it gives you that energy and it reboosts your body with all of those vitamins.”

While visiting the class, Huibregtse also shared information about her job as the 61st Alice in Dairyland. She is employed through the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to promote the state's agricultural industry. In her work during the year, she travels 40,000 miles throughout the state and drives an ethanol fueled vehicle.

She develops and delivers speeches for numerous urban and rural events and also gives presentations at over 100 schools.

“Today my main goal was to educate teens on what is actually in what they drink,” she said. “We're promoting milk and reminding teens that they shouldn't drink soda or energy drinks as often or at all.”