Every day, over one thousand students enter the doors of LM—but not all of them feel fully prepared to learn. For some, mornings may go without a proper meal or with little time to prepare one, a struggle that often follows them into the classroom. Long bus rides, a lack of hunger, and rushed mornings often make it difficult to eat a balanced breakfast, making some settle for poor-quality, unhealthy breakfasts or skip breakfast entirely. Now, LMSD’s universal grab-and-go free breakfast program hopes to stop student hunger from reaching the halls.
The new initiative, which launched at the beginning of this school year, provides grab-and-go breakfast bags for every student within LMSD. In the Kobe Gym Entrance, cafeteria workers distribute breakfast every day before LM’s morning classes. These include options like bagels, breakfast sandwiches, fruit, and milk or juice. This decision follows a statewide free breakfast initiative introduced in Governor Shapiro’s new budget. The new state budget grants schools reimbursement for all breakfasts sold, to virtually no cost to the district. The initiative aims to encourage equitable education and prevent students from learning on empty stomachs.
For American high school students, breakfast is not a guaranteed part of a student’s morning. Often, a lack of time in the morning forces 73 percent of high school students to skip breakfast at least once a week, eighteen percent of whom skip breakfast consistently. Those who do not eat breakfast are more likely to be tired, irritable, or unable to concentrate in morning classes. Continued breakfast deprivation can result in poorer educational development, lower scores on assessments, and chronic health implications.
For students who cannot consistently eat breakfast, the grab-and-go breakfast program has become a lifeline. “Whenever I eat breakfast,” said Soren Barash ’28, “I find myself more engaged in class and more prepared for tests and hard assignments.” Students who would have originally skipped breakfast before are now able to begin their day with a meal. “If I eat breakfast, I usually eat at school, mostly because my bus gets to LM pretty early in the morning, and I have some time,” says Veer Krishna ’28. For many students, the presence of free breakfast at school takes away the worry of rushed mornings, allowing them to arrive to class ready to engage and learn.
However, the rollout of free breakfast has not arrived without questions. “School breakfast is typically fairly balanced; however, I feel it could be a bit better,” said Krishna. “There is definitely room for improvement nutrition-wise, and giving students what the school thinks they might like to eat in a plastic bag leads to a lot of wastage. They often run out of certain items such as milk or hot items.” For others, the free breakfast policy proves relatively inaccessible. “Sometimes my bus comes too late for me to get breakfast and get to class on time,” said Thomas Briganti ’28.
For the foreseeable future, LM’s mornings are poised to look different. Students who once hurriedly rushed into school distracted and hungry now have the chance to start their day with LM’s new grab-and-go breakfast policy. While there are still challenges to be solved, the grab-and-go breakfast program has the potential to shift the rhythm of the school day. Beyond filling stomachs, the program nourishes minds and improves wellness and academic performance.
