Francis C. Hammond Middle School was named a winner in the Virginia Breakfast Challenge and will receive a $4,000 grant to use for technology enhancements, field trips or playground equipment. The school will also receive equipment for their breakfast program.
The Virginia Breakfast Program is a contest that ran from October 1 through December 31, 2016 and sought to increase participation rates in school breakfast programs. Winners at the elementary, middle, high school and division levels were selected across four categories based on the size and enrollment of the districts so that like-sized school divisions competed against each other. 1,325 Virginia schools participated in the contest.
Hammond’s results were quite impressive. The school went from serving an average of 335 per day between September 1 and December 31, 2015 to serving 1,117 students per day for that same period in 2016. Hammond saw a 56 percent increase in average daily participation as a percentage of enrollment from 2015 to 2016.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and Dorothy McAuliffe announced the winners live on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon.
One of the most important strategies to ending childhood hunger is to expand participation in the school breakfast program, making sure that all Virginia kids start their day with a healthy meal,” said Govenor McAuliffe.
Hammond launched the Breakfast in the Classroom program last spring and was the first secondary school in ACPS to offer the program. The positive impact of the program has been seen throughout the school.
We are truly thrilled to have won the Virginia Breakfast Challenge for our category. Our team has worked hard to integrate and refine the Breakfast in the Classroom program and grow student participation. This award reflects that work. We have seen so many positive results in our school, with a more positive school climate, calmer and more focused classrooms, a decrease in tardiness and absenteeism, and the elimination of the stigma associated with free meal programs,” said Hammond Principal Pierette Hall.
The program is funded by Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom and the Walmart Foundation. As more students participate in the program, more federal funds are reimbursed to the school, making it a self-sustaining program.
Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom is a joint initiative from the Food Research and Action Center, National Association of Elementary School Principals Foundation and NEA Healthy Futures and School Nutrition Foundation. Mid-Atlantic dairy Association provided the cooler bags.
The Breakfast in the Classroom program exemplifies ACPS 2020 Goal 5 – Health and Wellness, which promotes efforts to enable students to be healthy and ready to learn.