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This Rialto high school is making sure no student misses breakfast

On some days, the red and blue thermal bags lined neatly inside Eisenhower High’s multipurpose room have oatmeal bars and fruit.

On others, waffles and pancakes.

On this weekday morning, peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches and craisins are the breakfast foods du jour.

No matter the contents, at around 8 a.m. every day dozens of students wheel the bags from the multipurpose room to their second period classrooms, where more than 2,000 teens take in the most important meal of the day at their desks.

Already implemented at eight Rialto Unified elementary schools, Eisenhower is the only Inland Empire high school to have the anti-hunger Breakfast in the Classroom program.

On Tuesday, Nov. 19, school and district officials demonstrated the process for peers from neighboring cities.

“Kids get up early and stay up late so oftentimes they don’t eat breakfast,” art teacher Kelsey Gonzalez said. “It’s really important for physical health, mental health and awareness that they eat. A lot of times, kids are snacking throughout the day and that causes disruptions. Here, it’s a designated time for them to eat, be comfortable and get a little bit of that family environment because they’re sitting together with friends, classmates.

“It’s a nice way to wake up and build community.”

Earlier this year, officials with No Kid Hungry California, a national anti-hunger organization, and Rialto Unified visited a Los Angeles high school to see the Breakfast in the Classroom program live.

Not long after, No Kid Hungry California provided the district a $26,000 grant to launch the initiative at the North Lilac Avenue campus.

This summer, hundreds of students taste-tested different breakfasts and offered feedback.

Since launching the program at the start of the school year, Eisenhower has gone from serving breakfast to about 430 students to serving breakfast to north of 2,000.

“There’s no competition to be the first” high school to implement the model, Principal Frank Camacho said. “We just want to make sure we’re doing something right. We’re honored to be doing something successful and we want others to jump aboard to serve all our students in the community and in the Inland Empire.”

Convenient and accessible to all students, the Breakfast in the Classroom program bridges the cafeteria to the classroom to the community, said Fausat Rahman-Davies, who leads the district’s Nutrition Services Department.

No Kid Hungry officials have found that providing healthy meals to teens who start school on empty stomachs boosts attendance, engagement and academic success.

Rialto Unified officials hope to launch the program at another high school next year.

“We’ve definitely made a huge impact here,” said Daisy Munguia, a senior program manager with No Kid Hungry California. “We’re creating change in the entire Inland Empire.”