Westchester Breakfast After the Bell Summit

Jenna Godfrey
I volunteered for this event on April 27th, 2016 funded by the American Dairy Association
and Dairy Council in collaboration with Fuel up to Play 60. With presentations surrounding the
topic of school breakfast programs, the event largely catered to local school districts including
foodservice directors, principals, and teachers. Additionally, the event attracted members of
organizations such as Cornell Cooperative Extension, Department of Health, Expanded Food and
Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), Eat Smart NY, NYS Senate and Assembly. The purpose
of this conference was to collaboratively share the current state and effects of school breakfast
programs through various presentations.
Presenters included IRRP, Hunger Solutions, Food Research and Action Center, Action for
Healthy Kids, Senator Sue Serino and NYS Assemblyman, Fuel up to Play 60, author of the
Invisible Thread, and two middle school students from the Newburgh School District. The
majority of these presentations focused on the benefits of alternative school breakfast models,
such as breakfast in the classroom. Benefits presented were not just improving student physical
health, but also behavioral health and academic performance. IRRP provided a particularly
unique presentation as they discussed how restorative practices can be implemented in school
breakfast programs and how these practices can improve the school breakfast environment.
Other presentations focused more on personal experiences with school breakfast and why its
important to increase participation rates especially among school districts with high percentages
of free and reduced meals. Another unique presentation was provided by Laura Schroff, the
author of Invisible Thread. She shared her personal experiences with a young, hungry child and
connected them back to the importance of school meals. Presentations concluded with speeches

from two middle school students sharing how alternative breakfast models have benefited them
both personally and academically.
My volunteer work at this event mostly involved greeting and registering participants and
presenters. I was then given the opportunity to view the presentations, which was an invaluable
learning experience especially after having my food service management rotation in a lowincome school district. I felt a strong connection to these presentations as my process
improvement project focused on production efficiency during the implementation of breakfast in
the classroom, an alternative school breakfast program model.