Today 1 in 8 American children are facing hunger on a daily basis (in some regions this increases to 1 in 2 children).1 For secondary students, getting proper nutrition in the morning is even more difficult because breakfast is not seen as “trendy”. Most students want to spend their time with friends while the other large portion of students simply don’t have time between waking up and arriving at the first class.
So how do school nutrition professionals prioritize breakfast for students in middle and high school? Allow students to lead breakfast initiatives.
If you are starting this initiative for the first time, simply get to know what secondary students want. The more you place yourself in students’ shoes in how they see breakfast, the more likely you can engage students with breakfast.
Reach out to student groups to take an active role in the school breakfast program. For example, if students are learning about history or another culture - reach out to the history and/or language arts teachers for students’ support. Bring the learning to every student in the cafeteria! Here are some other exciting ways to involve students in school breakfast programs:
Taste Tester Aficionados
- Test tasting fits well within the school breakfast work as well as student capacity. This can be as simple as a student survey, or as detailed as having students run a test tasting operation.
Marketing Gurus
- Students know what attracts their peers best. As part of an art project, allow students to create posters or signage to post throughout the school. One idea is to allow students to create a “commercial” for breakfast wellness initiatives.
Role Models
- Allow older students to set the stage for breakfast and healthy habits. Invite older students to be guest servers at elementary schools.
- Provide students the opportunity to develop character in a role that supports the breakfast program. Maybe this could be focused on a sustainability project (i.e., waste study), and report back on next steps at a school board meeting. School boards want to hear student voices.
Looking for more ideas to include students in the school breakfast program? Check the Power Up with Peanuts breakfast toolkit here.
To support safe and on-trend school breakfast initiatives, the National Peanut Board developed the Power Up with Peanuts breakfast toolkit for school nutrition professionals to have resources right at your fingertips. This resource follows USDA’s best practices for reducing added sugars at school breakfast, best practices to safely serve allergens in schools, and power up school breakfast recipes with on-trend peanut and peanut butter school meal recipes.