National School Breakfast Week

Iron Chef Breakfast Competition in NY School

Hosting Iron Chef-style competitions has become an anticipated special event for Mechanicville City School District students in New York. Deborah Mackey, Food Service Director in the district, helps to put on about four each year, typically giving student teams a specific ingredient to include for a lunch dish. Past competitions have featured locally grown beef and apples, but the focus has never previously been on breakfast.

Mackey introduced the idea recently and held a breakfast competition to lead up to National School Breakfast Week (NSBW), a great opportunity for students to try new menu items and focus on the importance of breakfast.

Breakfast is a Welcome Addition to School Routines

School breakfast offers quick and easy solutions for families to make sure students start their rushed mornings with a balanced meal. This year, an increasing number of students have access to free breakfast as more states are providing meals at no cost for all students. Schools in Pennsylvania and Connecticut are seeing great benefits from students and their teachers.

According to Kristina Roberge, Food Service Coordinator for Groton Public Schools (CT), parents say their children want to get to school with plenty of time to head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Student Volunteers Show Appreciation to Food Servers

Seventh and eighth-graders in Donegal Junior High School (PA) found a hands-on way to recognize the friendly faces in their school cafeteria last month. Members of the Builders Club, a student-led organization providing opportunities to perform service, build character and develop leadership skills, asked their advisor if they could volunteer with the Donegal School District nutrition team and assist them with lunch and breakfast service.

The Builders Club, a middle school division of the Key Club, used the national theme of “Be Kind to Food Servers Month” to show their appreciation for the nutrition team for the second year in a row.

Celebrating National School Breakfast Week

The first week in March is set aside to recognize the important role school breakfast plays in helping students succeed. School nutrition teams nationwide celebrated National School Breakfast Week with this year’s theme “Dig In To School Breakfast” with a variety of special activities, from putting big trucks on display to re-naming nutritious foods, such as “dirt parfaits”.

Aprons and hair nets were traded for safety vests and hard hats in Alabama. The Hoover City Child Nutrition program brought in tractors and treats for students as they started school with the most important meal of the day.

Tennessee Students Get Hands-on for Breakfast Week

Morgan County students really dig school breakfast – more than 90% of students in the eastern Tennessee district have breakfast at school every day. To celebrate the benefits of school breakfast, Morgan County Schools planned a jam-packed week of celebrations for National School Breakfast Week (NSBW), March 6-10, 2023. They are embracing the theme “Dig In To School Breakfast” at all seven schools in the district.

National School Breakfast Week Around the Country

To celebrate school breakfast and the people who prepare and serve meals to children across the country, National School Breakfast Week 2022 was held March 7-11 with the theme “Take Off with School Breakfast.” From the kitchens to the cafeteria lines, so many creative examples have been seen showcasing the importance of breakfast.

Masks Can’t Hide National School Breakfast Week Smiles!

Each year, National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) offers an opportunity to highlight the importance of student access to healthy breakfast options in schools. This year’s theme, “Score Big with School Breakfast,” helps relay how balanced school breakfast supports students to be healthy, active and energized throughout the day.

Nutrition staff pack breakfast meals for Burlington Public School (VT) students to pick up curbside.

Benefits of Breakfast Available For All Students

While school meal service might look very different this year, the importance of providing easily accessible and healthy school meals hasn’t changed. Now more than ever, families can count on schools to nourish students to start the school day, with breakfast provided free for all students through special USDA waivers this school year. National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) offers an opportunity to focus on the benefits seen from providing equal access to free meals, with many school districts seeing an increase in breakfast participation.

Score Big With School Breakfast

Easy access to a healthy, balanced school breakfast each day can be a positive game-changer for students. This year’s National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) theme, “Score Big with School Breakfast,” emphasizes how students, parents and school communities all win when students nourish their school day with the important morning meal. Whether their students are learning in person or remotely, schools across the country are still finding ways to safely celebrate NSBW with special menu items, events and fun activities to raise awareness of the benefits of school breakfast, currently provided for free to all students.

Schools Shoot for the Stars to Celebrate Breakfast

School districts around the country celebrated National School Breakfast Week (March 2-6) last week. This year’s galactic theme, “School Breakfast: Out Of This World,” supplied schools with plenty of creative ideas to highlight the importance of school breakfast and help make students mornings a little brighter!

This year, school nutrition and food service departments created cafeteria decorations and wore out-of-this-world themed outfits!