By Deshani Hendley

The last hectic dash to class has just become a lot more hectic, and a tastier. The district has started this program in all schools to ensure that students get something to eat in the morning. The idea for this program is that students who are hungry are not thinking clearly. Like the Snicker’s commercial says, “You aren’t you when you’re hungry.”

Actually, there was a study done by Wisconsin, in 2007. The School Breakfast Program Cost/Benefit Analysis stated, “Studies have shown feeding children a nutritious breakfast increases their school performance, nutrition intake, and overall health while decreasing obesity, discipline problems, and illnesses.”

The program is just getting started, and it seems like everyone has something to say about it. Joseph Vasquez-Rossis said, “I appreciate the opportunity to get something to eat, but I wish there was better food.”

“There should be better food choices. It’s like carbs everywhere,” Mirialys Canela-Margarita said.

Most students like the program.

“I am just glad that I don’t have to think about breakfast. Sure it isn’t fancy, but I like getting something to eat in the morning,” said Kimberly Torres-Barragan. Diavionne Rivera added, “Trying to get to period 1 on time, at least I don’t have to think about what I am going to eat.”

Speaking of getting to class, Rafael Romeiro stated, “I’m not totally on board with this program. They need to make it easier for students to get in the building. Hey, the program is called grab and go, so grab it and go and let the rest of us get to class.”

Overall, this seems to be a successful program, but time will tell if this is helping students. As the Wisconsin study concluded, “Providing school children with nutritious breakfasts has demonstrated benefits that far exceed those from lunch. Nonetheless, neither district administrators, nor the community, generally offer the same level of support for school breakfast programs as for lunch programs. Adding a school breakfast program can potentially increase nutrition, health, and school performance while decreasing obesity, discipline problems, and illness.”

Let us hope that will be the case here.