Brianne Gring

LA101H Michelle Smith

Persuasive Essay
4/2/2011

To the Parents of Penn State Students,

As the parents of students attending the fifteenth ranked public university in the country, I

call upon you to help institute a change (“Top Public,” 2). College life is stressful, but all

students have different methods to cope with the stress. For many, however, all-you-can-eat

cafeterias, ice cream, and late night pizza deliveries are some of the major temptations facing

freshmen as we learn to adjust to a new lifestyle. When life becomes overwhelming, some

college students resort to a focus on food, an aspect of life which one may feel he or she can

control. In some cases, the stress can lead to over-eating and making poor food choices.

However, colleges have seen a rise in student concern with weight gain and extreme calorie

counting (Buglewicz, 1) In extreme cases, this leads to a person purposely ignoring meals. The

work-hard culture of college is a leading factor in unhealthy eating. Thus, a healthier diet will

help to better enrich the lives of your children.

East Halls, the residence in which the majority of first year students live, more

specifically your children, does not have the most nutritional eating options to choose from. In

comparison to the other dining commons on campus, East Halls is seriously lacking in the

healthy food department. With options such as the Big Onion, a pizza and sandwich grill,

Roxy’s, a burger joint, Fresh Express, an asian grill, and the all-you-eat cafeteria, it is easy to see

why the students of East Halls develop unhealthy eating habits.

According to our local food management, “Penn State Food Services takes nutrition

seriously! We strive to provide a menu selection that allows students to choose flavorful,
nutritionally-balanced meals.” Food services claims to have our backs, but as a student here in

East, I have seen little to support their argument. I especially, as well as many of your children

remain affected by the lack of healthy eating options. Personally having to search for the

healthiest possible item to consume is not the most appealing, especially when the stress of class

and out of class assignments is big enough. East Halls remains the unhealthiest dining area on

campus, even next to the HUB-Robeson center. Whether it be a greasy cheesesteak, the vast

carb-concentration in pasta, or a salad with whole milk cheese, it remains very difficult for

students to stay healthy living here.

For those of you who may have daughters here ate Penn State University, you should

know that the majority of the problems concerning unhealthy eating are specifically noticed in

female college students. We as females often face the challenge to stay thin, just as regularly

seen in our media today. Unhealthy eating during college years has been proven to cause bad

health, weight gain, and mainly heightened stress to maintain a “perfect body image”(“Eating

Disorders,” 3).

Bad eating habits often result in poor health and negative attitudes toward life (Jaret, 1).

Even before leaving for college, I’m sure your children were introduced to the stories about the

“Unavoidable Freshmen Fifteen.” Specifically, I was told that if I didn’t make a habit of eating a

healthy, balanced diet, I would surely be affected by the stereotypical massive weight gain.

Thus, as your children are currently involved in their studies here at Penn State, I am sure many

can vouch for the stress to remain thin and fit facing many college freshmen.

It may seem clear that weight gain is prevalent in the normal lives of college students.

However, stress from body image, college classes, and unhealthy food choices have been proven

to lead to a bigger, more severe problem: eating disorders. Fifteen percent of women ages 17 to
24 have eating disorders. Forty Percent of college females have eating disorders. Ninety-one

percent of college females have attempted to control their weight through dieting (“Eating

Disorders,” 1). In most cases, eating disorders begin with the best of intentions: to lose weight.

However, there can be serious consequences, such as depression. “Being severely underweight

and malnourished, which is common in anorexia, can cause physiological changes that are

known to negatively affect mood states,” says Lisa Lilenfeld, PhD, an associate professor of

clinical psychology at Argosy University in Arlington, Va., who specializes in eating disorders.

Subsequently, unhealthy eating options can lead to a lack of eating and/or disorder, thus resulting

in an unhappy lifestyle and poor academic performance (Jaret, 2). Is this the type of lifestyle you

want your children to encounter on a daily basis?

On a more personal note, I have seen on first hand the effects East Halls dining options

has had on my fellow female classmates. You may feel that eating disorders are only presented

in the rarest cases, such as models, actors, and depressed teens. However that is not the only

case.

As I stated earlier, Simmons dining is the most nutritional dining facility. Unfortunately,

Simmons is not closely located to our residents of East Halls. Due to the far walking distance

between East and Simmons, students have recently opted to skip out on meals; students that may

possibly be your beloved children. Thus, more often than not, this meal withholding becomes a

daily routine. I have encountered numerous classmates who have made a habit out of not eating.

Many have stated that it is much easier not to eat, rather than to “hunt” for some healthy options.

On a more serious note, this refusal to obtain the nutrition needed for one’s daily diet leads to

anorexia: the the most serious of eating disorders. Therefore, as a female college student having
experienced an atmosphere where many of my peers engage in no-eating methods of dieting, I

support the developing of improved, healthier menu choices for the residents of East Halls.

On campus, the Pollock and South Halls dining commons, known as Simmons, presents

student residents with both organic and reduced fat eating. In Simmons, students are introduced

to a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, low-fat cheeses, along with the recommended

servings of meat per meal. Based off of a balanced calorie diet, Simmons shows students that

eating healthy is normal, as well as enjoyable. Also, West Halls has recently developed an

organic option for its residents. At Sisu, an organic market, students are presented with options

such as an organic salad bar, organic sandwiches and yogurt, and even organic coffee products.

Both Simmons and Sisu are located in areas which are easily accessible to the majority of

students on campus (ABS, 1). So where does this leave your children, possible residents of East

Halls?

East Halls is frequently left out on the healthy eating spectrum of college dining. Thus, I

propose that Food Services produce a larger effort to provide the students of East Halls with

healthier dining choices. Instead of eliminating the Big Onion, Fresh Express, and Roxy’s

altogether, I suggest that the commons/cafeteria dining menu be altered. This way, those

students who enjoy what East Halls currently has to offer won’t be stripped of any current food

options. The most effective menu change in cafeteria dining would be to create a menu similar

to that of Simmons in Pollock and South Halls.

Penn State University produces most of the food which is served in the dining commons

on campus. The university remains one of the largest schools for agriculture science (“Penn

State University,” 1). Thus, Penn State Food Services would not have to outsource to other

businesses in order to implement the proposed changes for the East Halls dining menu,
ultimately keeping tuition and meal plan costs low. As parents, I’m sure hearing the idea of

keeping tuition costs low is refreshing. Simmons already sustains a healthy menu, therefore, it

wouldn’t be very hard to transfer the same idea of organic meals into East Halls dining. East

Hall’s Findlay Commons would then be supplied with the same balanced diet option.

By changing to a menu in which reflects the options in Simmons, students who enjoy

eating healthy, as well as those who would like to lose weight in a healthy form, are provided

with organic and reduced-fat foods, lean meats, vegan and vegetarian entrees, and lighter

desserts. In this case, a healthier dining option installed in the East Halls residence area would

surely improve the lifestyle of freshmen students. Healthy eating helps one get the right balance

of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. It helps one feel his/her best and have plenty of

energy. Healthy eating is one of the best things one can do to prevent health problems such as

cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and type II diabetes (Nutrition Center, 2). Most

importantly, a healthier diet reduces the chances of a developing an eating disorder. Healthier

diets reduce excessive weight gan, thus decrease the extremity of diets, and food withholding

altogether. Furthermore, a healthier diet will help to improve your chid’s student lifestyle. A

balanced diet, with organic and reduced-fat food choices, improves one’s overall attitude

(Healthy Eating, 2).

Most importantly, a happier student means a more successful student. Recently, studies

have shown that the better a student’s diet, based on a healthy balance of nutrients, the less likely

a student is to fail a test (“Healthy Diet,” 1) . Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, and getting

fewer calories from fat, was also associated with a lower risk of failing a test. So, the healthier

the diet, the better the attitude and level of academic success for your child.
 Furthermore, this change is viable and effective, and should be put into place as soon as

possible. Parents, you should very much be concerned with the well being of our students. I

encourage you to talk to other Penn State parents as well as develop a stance on this issue in

support of a healthier diet for Penn State students of East Halls. As students, we do not possess

enough power to instill this change. You as parents, and most importantly the primary payment

makers concerning tuition and other monetary donations, have one of the highest valued opinions

on the issue in regards to our university’s administration. Thus, I encourage you to support

healthier eating options, as well as forward your support onto Penn State Food Services. Please

contact Lisa Wandel, Director of Residential Dining via email at lsw1@psu.edu, or by phoning

(814) 863-1255. Also feel free to contact Penn State Food Services directly through their

website www.foodservices.psu.edu. I can assure you that Penn State University itself will

understand the severity of this issue. When seeing parental concern, it takes the reality of the

issue to a completely different level.

Sincerely,

Brianne Gring

Works Cited

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