The Courage to Create: How School Nutrition Impacts Children’s Health & Learning with Thursall Cellé

I Love Learning Podcast, S4 EP14: Thursall Cellé

Have you ever thought about how something as simple as a school lunch could change a child’s life? As a learning scientist, I spend a lot of time thinking about how children learn, but we can’t separate learning from how children feel, grow, and are nourished. What if we started looking at school lunches as more than just a meal? What if we saw them as an opportunity to improve children’s health, support learning, and help them thrive?

In this episode of I Love Learning, I had the opportunity to sit down with Thursell Cellé, founder and co-executive director of Food Paradigm, a nonprofit working to transform school lunches and improve children’s quality of life. What I loved about Thursell’s story is that she didn’t begin her career in nutrition or education. She started as an electrical engineer and later worked in software consulting. After facing her own health challenges, she became curious about the connection between food and well-being, eventually returning to school to study holistic nutrition. That curiosity grew into something much bigger: a mission to help children have access to healthier, more nourishing meals at school.

One of my favorite moments in our conversation was when Thursell said, “We want good food, not just free food.” That really stayed with me. We often talk about making sure children have enough to eat, which is incredibly important, but we also need to think about the quality of the food we’re providing. Thursell explained that changing school lunches isn’t as simple as creating a new menu. Schools face challenges with budgets, purchasing requirements, staffing, and changing established systems. Through Food Paradigm, she’s working with schools to introduce meals prepared from scratch and develop a model that other schools can eventually follow. I especially appreciated her perspective that providing healthy meals is also about helping children feel cared for, included, and valued.

As a learning scientist, I love the connection between nourishment, well-being, and learning. But what inspired me just as much was Thursell’s willingness to enter an entirely new field because she saw something that needed to change. She didn’t have experience running a nonprofit or managing school nutrition programs when she began. She had curiosity, a willingness to learn, and the courage to take the next step. We also talked about how people can create change in their own communities without starting an organization. Sometimes it begins with volunteering, reaching out to someone already doing meaningful work, or simply sharing an idea. And if you haven’t discovered your passion yet, that’s okay too. Give yourself some grace, stay curious, and explore what interests you.

Thursell’s story is exactly why I created this season, The Courage to Create. Innovation doesn’t always mean inventing a new product or launching a technology company. Sometimes it’s about questioning a system we’ve accepted for years and asking how we can make it better for the people it serves. And sometimes the most meaningful change begins with one person who cares enough to try.

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