2009 Expanding Breakfast Award Winners
The Dairy Council is thrilled to announce we received 50 requests for our 2009 Expanding Breakfast Awards from 24 school districts across Florida. From the entries we received, we are happy to say that there are some very creative, innovative and dedicated school food service professionals in the state of Florida. These professionals are committed to helping make sure their students get the best start to their day – no matter what obstacles may be in their way!
1st Place – Dixieland Elementary School (Lakeland)
2nd Place – Piedmont Lakes Middle School (Apopka)
3rd place – Fort McCoy School (Fort McCoy)
Award Amounts
1st Place – $5,000, 2nd Place – $2,000, 3rd Place – $1,000
First Place
Dixieland’s “To Go” Breakfast concept started when Cafeteria Manager, Cindy Wickham noticed that late arriving students were missing out on breakfast. With the support of Dixieland’s principal Ms. Debbie Henderson, the “To Go” concept was created to allow students to pick up a bag breakfast and go to the classroom to eat. Staff supports the program by going with students to get their “To Go” bag while teachers provide space in the classroom for students to eat during learning time. Students are often heard reminding each other of Miss Cindy’s “To Go” program when they arrive late. Breakfast participation has risen from 34% to 42% since the renewed focus on breakfast and the inception of the “To Go” program.
Second Place
Second place winner, Piedmont Lakes Middle School in Apopka, was challenged with starting a brand new breakfast program. Since becoming the Cafeteria Manager, Nancy Brumbaugh, has seen how the lack of breakfast has affected the students at her school. Previous lack of administrative support hampered her efforts until this year when the principal and staff came up with an alternative program that allows students to eat in the cafeteria for the first 10 minutes of the breakfast period then grab n go to their first period class when they arrive late. Their grab n go breakfast also works as their late pass. Since starting the program the school staff reports less behavior problems, better class participation and less nurse visits. All of their breakfast promotion and marketing efforts has resulted in a successful breakfast program serving over 300 students a day.
Third Place
Fort McCoy K-8 School provides provision 2 FREE breakfast to all their students which encompasses pre-K through 8th grade. With so many students with differing needs, Fort McCoy had to develop multiple ways to reach their varied student population. They provide breakfast in the classroom for their younger grades and grab n go for their older students. Over 60% of the student population at Fort McCoy qualifies for free or reduced meals so the need for a healthy breakfast is very important in this close knit community. Fort McCoy has doubled its breakfast participation and gone from a “C” school to a “B” school last year.
