Warren County Public Schools, Skyline Middle School, won the Virginia Breakfast Challenge

Photo courtesy of VABreakfast.org

Front Royal, VA – Skyline Middle School won the 2018-2019 Virginia Breakfast Challenge. The Virginia Breakfast Challenge, an initiative of No Kid Hungry Virginia, the Virginia Department of Education, Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, Virginia Hunger Solutions, and the Dairy Alliance occurred during the fall of 2018 in an effort to connect more students with school breakfast to ensure academic success.

One in seven kids in Virginia live in households that struggle with hunger. Research shows that hunger has serious consequences for children, including lower test scores, weaker attendance rates, and higher risk of hospitalization and chronic diseases. The school breakfast program can ensure that kids get the morning nutrition they need but too often, it can be challenging for kids to access this critical meal. Nearly half of all students who rely on school meals miss out on breakfast each day.

The 2018-2019 Virginia Breakfast Challenge called on public schools to increase the number of students who participate in breakfast programs, by implementing a Breakfast After the Bell model or by simply expanding their traditional model. 1,471 Virginia schools from 109 of Virginia’s school divisions enrolled in the Challenge. These schools and divisions competed from October 1 through December 31, 2018. School winners were named based on breakfast participation increases over the 2017-2018 school year.

The schools were divided into one of four categories, based on the school division’s enrollment. Within each category, there is an elementary and secondary school winner. Participation winners will receive funding for school nutrition equipment as well as funding to support technological enhancements, field trips or playground equipment.

New for this year was the Virginia Breakfast Challenge Gold Category. 119 schools took part in this category by going above and beyond to serve healthy, delicious school breakfast. Schools could earn points by introducing farm to school initiatives in their programs, improving meal quality, hosting breakfast events, and implementing creative marketing strategies to take their school breakfast to the next level.

Skyline Middle School experienced a 600 percent increase in the number of school breakfasts they serve daily this school year. This win shows their commitment to both ending childhood hunger in Virginia and ensuring their students have the fuel they need to learn and succeed every school day.