Hillcrest School's breakfast program has become a point of pride for the school in the past year. With another big donation coming in last week, the school has even bigger ambitions for the project that has grown from humble roots.
On Sept. 7, the students gathered in the gymnasium before hitting the streets, as they walked for their breakfast to mark the beginning of the year's morning meal program. It was in the gymnasium that the announcement was made of a $5,000 donation for the program by the Mosaic Extreme School Makeover through Breakfast for Learning. Hillcrest was one of two schools to receive the funding, the second one being W.J. Berezowsky School in Prince Albert.
Joining the students on the walk were members of city council, the Minister of Education Russ Marchuk, Breakfast for Learning member Donna Ziegler and members of both the Southeast Cornerstone School Division and United Way Estevan.
The money will go towards the school's daily breakfast program that is accessed by about 70 per cent of their students. Principal Kathy Fowler said they will also be looking at implementing some further initiatives to go hand-in-hand with the breakfast program.
"We have a vision to try to add in some new programs," she said. "One of the things we're seriously looking at is a gardening program in our school that will engage our students in growing those healthy foods and then of course, hopefully consuming those healthy foods."
Implementing the actual garden on school grounds will be a lengthy process, Fowler said, adding that it will likely be more than a year before the vegetables begin to grow.
"It will require making adaptations to our schoolyard. We currently don't have a place that would grow vegetables," Fowler said. "We've got a bigger picture planned to map out a new vision for how we're going to use our schoolyard in a way that is environmentally healthy and promotes students' understanding of the need to eat healthfully everyday."
Sara Pippus is the school community co-ordinator, and with that post, she has a big role in what is happening with the breakfast program. She touts the improvements teachers have seen in students' behaviour and attention levels since the breakfast program was implemented.
"When we first started, we had a lot of people say, 'you're going to lose time at the start of class time because the kids are allowed to come back to class and finish (their food),'" said Pippus. "We had people ask us about the loss of time, but what we found is the time we are gaining right around 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, when breakfast makes the biggest difference in a child's body, is gained back. We gain back about two hours of time every day."
A typical breakfast includes whole-wheat toast, fresh fruit, cereals, some kind of protein and beverage, either milk or fruit juice. It's a well-rounded start for the students, but it's even more when community members come into the school to serve breakfast.
"It's about more than just food," added Pippus. "It's about the community coming to be a part of our school, the community connecting with our kids and our kids feeling like they are secure and safe and they can trust the community to look after them in a good way."
"It is great for our students and the community to make that connection together," said Fowler. "I don't know that a lot of people who (don't have) children in the school really understand what it's all about. Once those community members walk through the door, I don't think there has been one of them say they don't want to be a part of it."
Pippus wasn't always a believer of the benefits of a good breakfast. She told her children to make sure they had something to eat, but didn't really appreciate the importance of the meal.
"When I came here, I realized just what a difference it made during the day in class time. It really, really makes a big difference. Breakfast is incredible the way it changes the way kids feel about themselves. Everybody is on an equal playing field. Everybody gets the same thing in the morning. Everybody starts the same when they come here."
