Marionville Senior High School
Marionville, MO

Far too often at Marionville Senior High School in Marionville, Missouri, students miss breakfast, which means they may be hungry and unfocused until lunchtime. Traditional school breakfast programs allow students to pick up and eat breakfast in the cafeteria before the start of the school day. However, Marionville’s traditional breakfast program was reaching only about a third of students at the start of the 2018-2019 school year. Through a grant and support from Action for Healthy Kids, Marionville sought to implement an alternative breakfast program to reach more students and ensure a healthy start to their day.

With the grant funding sponsored by Kellogg Company Fund, Marionville began implementing a second chance breakfast from their school café. While traditional breakfast is still served before school in the cafeteria, breakfast is now additionally served in the late morning from the café – a conveniently located spot preferred by students. Next year, students will also have the ability to take their breakfast to the classroom of their first period class, offering even more flexibility to accommodate students’ needs.

“The kids are really enjoying the second chance breakfast because not all of them are able to arrive at school in time for the first round,” shared teacher Jessica Townlain. From just 10-12 students utilizing the alternative breakfast program at the start, now up to nearly 30 students are participating on a daily basis. Additionally, the implementation of this program has improved student focus and behavior in the classroom, resulting in reduced discipline issues and increased student awareness around the importance of starting off the day with a good meal.

With a strong start to their new breakfast program, the school is looking forward to further expanding its reach. Chris Gold, Superintendent of Marionville School District R9, highlighted the impact of these opportunities. “Being a school with high free- and reduced-price meal rates, these grants are a wonderful contribution to our food service department.”

With the goal to have all of their students begin their day with a healthy breakfast, staff at Marionville Senior High are monitoring and evaluating their progress each month to continuously improve their program and meet the needs of their students.