My name is Miazha and I am a junior at Riverbend High School. I’ve had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the Y Street Leadership Team for my first time this year. It’s very exciting to take on more tasks for Y Street and be exposed to important people who help make real changes!!!
One campaign I’ve grown to be very passionate about is Great Starts With Breakfast. This campaign is important because eating breakfast in the morning is so important, and it helps students learn better when they’ve eaten a healthy breakfast. Students who do not eat breakfast in the morning tend to act out in class, causing problems in the classroom because they’re so hungry. We can help put an end to students coming to school hungry by making breakfast more accessible for all students. Studies have shown that eating breakfast helps students’ productivity increase, helping us focus and perform better on tests.
One of the ways we’re encouraging more schools to adopt alternative models and get more students to eat breakfast this fall is through participating in the Virginia Breakfast Challenge! The Virginia Breakfast Challenge is a statewide initiative focused on rewarding students and schools for eating more breakfast. At my school, we are hosting a Breakfast Club Card Challenge, where students receive prizes for eating breakfast. The more breakfasts they eat, the higher the rewards! It’s important for us, as students, to stand together to put an end to kids being hungry and to help students of all ages succeed in the classroom through offering breakfast at times that are more convenient for our schedules. I hope after reading this that everyone in our community will show awareness of this issue and implement a change!
For more information on the Challenge and to sign your school up, visit http://vabreakfast.org/.