Grey clouds blanketed the campus while smiles painted participants’ faces as young scholars lined up to explore emergency response vehicles, climb massive machinery, and touch gigantic machines. On Friday, March 31, 2023, Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s (MPB) education team was a vendor for this year’s Touch-a-Truck event from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. The event occurred at Trustmark Park in Pearl on Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1.
For MPB’s education team, Ed Said was the main attraction. Ed Said is MPB’s edutainment character, who raps and rhymes about fruits and vegetables to young students, encouraging them to consume more nutritious foods. At the Touch-a-Truck event, an Ed Said table was set up with several educational, fun, and interactive games. The games included Ed Said’s fruit toss, Ed Said’s bean bag toss, and Ed Said’s wheel of healthy choices. MPB’s table also displayed a bag of fruit and vegetables for scholars to identify colors and explain simple nutrition facts about their favorite fruit or vegetable. Parents, teachers, and students had the opportunity to meet, greet, and take photos with Ed Said.
Junior League of Jackson is an organization of women who are devoted to promoting voluntarism. The purpose of the organization is to improve lives within the Jackson metro area by working with community partners and delivering assistance to individuals in need. Junior League of Jackson’s projects usually focus on child literacy, and children’s health and social development.
For more Ed Said resources visit EdSaid.org.