Nutrition comes in a hurry for Iola High School students these days.
Nearly 100 high-schoolers have taken advantage of “second breakfast,” a 10-minute break midway through their morning schedules in order to grab what amounts to nutritious snacks before they return to class.
Offerings include breakfast bars, Pop-Tarts, slices of zucchini bread or other similarly packaged items, as well as milk or juice.
The program was developed through the encouragement of the United States Department of Agriculture, which is looking for ways to increase breakfast participation among students.
Iola’s goal was to increase breakfast sales by 10 percent, said Food Service Director Colleen Riebel.
The biggest hurdle was that only a small number of students were hungry when they woke up or arrived at school, Principal Stacy Fager said.
“But by the end of the first period, they’re starving,” Fager said.
The end of that first period, 9:27 a.m., provided the most opportune time for a second breakfast.
“Second breakfast is a program that’s been around for a while, but this was our first chance to set up our schedules to make it work,” Riebel said.
The students understand the urgency. They have 10 minutes to get their food, wolf it down, and clean up any mess before heading to their second-period classes.
“They understand this is a privilege,” Fager said, pointing to the commons area shortly after the session ended. All of the tables were clean, save for a vagrant wrapper apparently missed by one of the students.
“The students have done a great job of cleaning up after themselves and getting to class on time,” Fager said.
The idea has quickly become a popular highlight of the students’ busy morning, Riebel said, to the point that the numbers for second breakfast have met or exceeded most days the school’s regularly served breakfast.
Prices for second breakfast cost the same as the normal breakfast meals before school starts, Riebel said.
The school still offers a full breakfast before school starts for students who prefer sit-down meals.
