Examining blood is more than just sticking a needle in, drawing blood and taking the needle out again. An empty stomach is of great importance for the results. But how do you convince 350 students who, on top of everything else, are at the "difficult" age of 15 and above, to skip breakfast and coffee before coming to school?

In order to tackle this challenge we offered some incentives to ensure that enough students would show up to the examinations with an empty stomach. We came up with something special to fuel the students' ambition. The class contributing the highest number of students to the examination was to be awarded McDonald's vouchers. Why did we choose McDonald's? Because it is immensely popular in our target group. For us it seemed important not to unnecessarily demonize eating cultures such as McDonald's, since healthy nutrition is also about getting the right mixture.

In the end, the students' participation was large enough to award 5 classes with 100%

turnout each with those vouchers. The greater part of the vouchers was sponsored by McDonald's Henritzi GmbH itself. Unfortunately, we had to pay for the rest of the gift vouchers out of our already tight budget.

However, we knew that no student would want to forgo breakfast and stay in class for five hours just because they had been promised a McDonald's voucher

In order to motivate students even more, we organised a lavish and healthy breakfast for all participants. Since we could not do this on our own, we collaborated with our school canteen. We were allowed to use the kitchen and decorate the dining hall. On top of this the staff supported us with our work. With a little effort we managed to convince some local companies and our headmaster to support our plan. The healthy breakfast was a raving success. It was obvious that students enjoyed the meal, since they took their time to return to their classes. However, the teachers also seemed to welcome this diversion.

The students were offered wholemeal bread, various types of ham and cheese, fresh juices and yoghurts. The attractively arranged buffet also offered healthy spreads and fresh fruit. Most of the foods were produced on certified organic farms.

Needless to say, the three days of data collection and examination turned out to be a great success due to our friendly sponsors and our attractive incentives for a satisfying turnout.

Malicious tongues claimed that many students had only participated to get a McDonald's voucher. However, 250 students attended a lecture outside regular school hours on the implications of their blood-test results.

At this point our special thanks go to our sponsors:

C+C Pfeifer
Bäckerei u. Konditorei Flöckner
ÖKOHOF Feldinger
Bio Ernte Austira - Salzburg