Schools mark “National School Breakfast Week”

Fifth-grader Maura Francisco, fourth-grader Emily Lemus and fifth-grader Billy Alonzo celebrated National School Breakfast Week on Thursday with Russellville Fire Capt. Aubrey Harris and Sparky the Fire Dog.

In honor of National School Breakfast Week, students at Russellville Elementary School learned about the value of a well-balanced breakfast and why breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.
Jo Ann Pearson, manager of the RES cafeteria, said the students have participated in activities all week for the “Eat Right, Shine Bright” breakfast campaign to get them excited about eating a healthy breakfast.
“We gave away prizes to all the students who came in to eat breakfast this week and had drawings for bigger prizes,” she said. “At the end of the week, we’ll tally up which class had the most students come to eat breakfast and that class will win 30 extra minutes of recess time.”
Pearson said the cafeteria has also had several special guests, including many parents, who showed up each morning to eat breakfast with the students.
“We had members of the Russellville cheerleading squad on Monday, JROTC cadets on Tuesday, members of the football team on Wednesday and several Russellville firefighters and Sparky the Fire Dog came on Thursday,” she said.
“Having those people here each day really made it fun for the kids and they really seemed to enjoy it. We appreciate those people taking time out to eat breakfast with us and show the kids that being healthy is important.”
Pearson said the purpose of this week is to find ways to get students motivated to eat a healthy breakfast.
“Doing these activities and giving out prizes just encourages the kids to participate,” she said, “and when they participate, they’re likely to see the benefits of starting your day off right with a well-balanced meal.”
Pearson said any parent who would like to have breakfast with his or her child is more than welcome to come any day of the week.
“We don’t have to be doing something special for parents to have breakfast or lunch with us,” she said.
“We’ll be glad to have them come anytime.”