Aleesha Singh

Aleesha Singh wins the UTM Dean's Excellence Award in Research&Experiential Learning

Aleesha Singh is the winner of the UTM Dean's Excellence Award in Research & Experiential Learning!

"Working on a capstone project with my peers has allowed me to gain experiential learning experience by taking an idea, creating it into a prototype, and working with professionals to bring it into the industry."

Aleesha and her teammates worked on “Providing nutritional knowledge to younger populations: a possible way to preventative obesity?” capstone proposal.

 

It is well-known that globally, there is an increased prevalence and incidence of obesity and its associated diseases. Studies show that reductions in the rate at which individuals become obese or have associated metabolic diseases, relies on different behavioural interventions. Learning programs on food and nutrition may help address this need. We developed a program to address this issue by focusing on the children and youth populations through instilling healthy eating practices and knowledge at a young age. We are developing a three part project which includes a web-based application for a virtual garden to be used in classrooms, a physical community garden to be implemented in educational institutions that use the virtual garden app, and the participation in associated culinary classes using cultivated crops from the ‘virtual’ or real garden. Our current target population is elementary, middle and high school students within the city of Mississauga, Ontario. The purpose of a community garden is to allow students to gain hands-on experience and to better understand the different components of food and nutrition, vegetation growth, ecological, environmental and biological barriers to farming and food cultivation, as well as cooking seasonally with accessible food options. Evidence from other pilot programs and research studies have shown that students who actively participate in practical applications, have increased usable knowledge, academic performance, vegetable and fruit intake, mental health clarity and overall health. The proposed outcome of this project is to provide students with knowledge translation in a contemporary, technical context, while developing interpersonal skills that will allow them to create personalized and transferable healthy eating habits that they can carry out throughout their life.

Congratulations on your well-deserved success, Aleesha!

Congratulations, as well, to your supervisor, Dr. Leanne De Souza-Kenney!