About

鈥淲hat did you do to her?,鈥?a parent asked Jill. 鈥淪he doesn鈥檛 want soda anymore!? I鈥檝e been trying to get her to stop drinking that stuff for years, and she spends one hour with you and won鈥檛 touch it? Really, Jill, this is absurdly wonderful.鈥?/p>

Comments like these are no accident, but the work of years of perfecting the idea that kids would want to make healthy decisions if the information was presented to them in an engaging way. Jill wrote Jump with Jill in the spring of 2006, opened the show just outside of the Central Park Zoo and collected tips in a tin pot. For six hours a day, Jill slaved through the heat to test her materials and concepts, and grow a committed fan base. By the fall of 2006, Jill was touring New York State, and by 2007, headlining national conferences on the power of her medium. After touring schools all over the Northeast, Jill began development of professional recordings of the show鈥檚 songs. The CD Get Me Goin鈥?/em> was officially released in October 2008 at the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) in Chicago, sponsored by the American Dietetic Association. Here Jill performed for a standing-room-only group of nutrition professionals from around the world. Bookings streamed in from around the country, and in the spring of 2009, Jill took her show in a van to schools and venues across the country for the show's first national tour which launched an active website community and blog, "On the Beat with the Rockstar Nutritionist." The press were atwitter as she made the covers of many local and regional papers, including The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Indianapolis Star, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, and The Burlington Free Press. Her favorite coverage, though, was filming Good Morning Wisconsin in Green Bay where she got to wear a Cheesehead on-air for more than just the calcium.

As of May 2010, the show has reached nearly 100,000 kids through almost 600 performances.

Jill has established herself as an expert in creating and delivering interactive media about health to kids and families, taking her rcok 'n roll approach to health to other age groups, television pitches, music licensing and tools for teachers. Jill continues to build her show into a social movement by continuing to bridge the gap of well-meaning health education and well-funded mass media. 

IT WORKS!

Research on Jump with Jill demonstrates kids are tuned in to the Rockstar Nutritionist. Not only does Jump with Jill get kids rockin' and learnin', the messages translate into measurable behavioral improvements. These changes include an increase in physical activity, drinking more water and drinking less soda. Even seven months after seeing the show, kids could still recall the messages, particularly about the importance of physical activity. Song lyrics were recalled verbatim. Not bad when you consider how easily kids forget their homework and that Jill's one time intervention is competing with the well-funded unhealthy competition kids see daily in advertisements.

In the fall of 2009, an independent evaluation conducted by the Ft. Wayne Cardiology Center through America on the Move funding found that Jump with Jill had a meaningful impact on 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders鈥?behavior with regard to health and fitness.  Seven weeks after watching Jump with Jill, 153 students completed a questionnaire examining their responses to the performance.

路      75% of all students reported trying to be more active since seeing Jump with Jill.

路      81% of 4th graders and 74% of 3rd graders reported trying to drink more water.

路      58% of the 3rd graders reported trying to drink less soda.

路      80% of 3rd graders reported telling a parent about Jill鈥檚 health and nutrition messages.

路      More than half of 3rd and 4th graders reported that a family member had changed their behavior due to Jill鈥檚 messages 鈥?drinking more water, drinking less soda, and/or being more active.

Of particular significance is a follow-up study conducted 7 months after students鈥?exposure to Jump with Jill.  The message regarding the importance of physical activity remained especially strong and continued to be recalled at a similar rate by the 3rd and 4th graders.  (Note: 5th graders were not available for the follow-up study because they were now in Middle School.)

Citation:

Chubinski, S. (2009, 12). Report of baseline and 7 month data from children and adults about Jump with Jill Rockstar Nutritionist program. America on the Move board meeting, Fort Wayne, IN.