Vicksburg High School freshmen, from left, Trey Curtis, Lester Davenport, Corey Rowster, Marcus Slaughter and Willis McGowan socialize while eating breakfast in the school’s cafeteria before classes Thursday. (The Vicksburg Post/C. Todd Sherman)

[09/16/02]Early reports say breakfast programs added at Vicksburg and Warren Central High are popular.

“It was a major step in doing everything we can do for our students,” said Vicksburg High American history teacher Ed Wong. “I haven’t seen as many kids coming in with soft drinks and candy bars.”

Child Nutrition Director Gail Kavanaugh said teachers and students, especially the football team at Vicksburg High, wanted to know why a breakfast program wasn’t offered at their schools.

“All that was needed was administrators to say let’s do it,” Kavanaugh said. “The funding has always been there from USDA. Once the kids said they wanted the program their voice was heard.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture funds breakfast and lunch programs nationwide, but until this fall school trustees had not authorized breakfast service at the high schools.

Districtwide, 55 percent of students are eligible for free school meals. At the high schools, breakfast is 25 cents for students eligible due to household income for a price reduction. For full-pay students, breakfast is a dollar.

“We submitted an agreement to the state and changed the agreement to read we were starting breakfast programs and we got going,” Kavanaugh said.

Kavanaugh said the USDA pushes the breakfast because they still consider it the most important meal of the day.

“Breakfast breaks the fast from the night before,” she said. “It’s the key for children to learn.”

While classes started Aug. 12, Kavanaugh said the breakfast service started Sept. 3.

“We average about 120 students at each school, and we keep the line moving; the kids have plenty of time to eat,” Kavanaugh said. “We are the fast of the fast food.”

Kavanaugh said having the breakfast program just made sense, since a lot of the children were already at the schools around 7 a.m. and it doesn’t interrupt classes.

“We start serving breakfast at around 7:05 to 7:40, so the kids have time to eat and still get to class on time,” Kavanaugh said.

Teachers and students all agree the program has been an early success.

Kavanaugh said not seeing the soft drinks and candy bars is a positive thing.

“Energy from soft drinks and candy bars drops out quickly,” she said.

Vicksburg High School junior Jesse Warfield said he has enjoyed the breakfast program.

“I think it’s about time. People are hungry in the morning and need some breakfast,” Warfield said. “It helps my energy level in the morning, keeps me from sleeping, wakes me up.”

The students have about six choices daily, ranging from milk and juice, biscuits and sausage or ham, grits, toast, yogurt, English muffins or cinnamon swirls.

Breakfast has been offered at elementaries since the USDA added it as a second meal more than 25 years ago. The Vicksburg Warren School District added it at junior highs about five years ago.

Wong said if it was a good idea for students at the other schools to eat breakfast, it just made sense that it would be good for high school students also.

Kavanaugh said she expects more students to eat breakfast and that the program will grow.

“If the students don’t eat here, I hope they get a good breakfast somewhere,” Kavanaugh said. “It is so important.”