Whitewater School's breakfast programs cracks top 20 in Montana

It's Wednesday morning in Whitewater and the smell of sausage cooking floats through the halls of the school.

Though no students have arrived on campus yet, Whitewater School head cook Carol Simanton, in her 20th year at the school; has most of the day's breakfast cooked and is putting the final touches on a huge pan full of scrambled eggs and the aforementioned sausage. Bowls of fresh fruit are laid out on a counter and dispensers of cold cereal are are all ready for all who might enjoy a bowl. This is nothing new at the school. Since 1998, the school has offered its children the "most important meal of the day" in hopes that it will stimulate the students and make learning the day's lessons that much easier.

Two Wednesdays ago -- 18 years after the breakfast program was put in place in Whitewater – Simanton received a congratulatory letter from the Montana Foodbank Network informing the longtime head cook that the school district was able to provide breakfast to 90 students per every 100 participating in the National School Lunch program and, in turn, means the school is one of the best breakfast programs in the state, making the top 20 at number 13 overall.

"Please take the time to celebrate your School Breakfast Program and recognize the food service staff, teachers, administrators, custodial staff, parents and others who have made your program successful," the letter states. "Again, congratulations on having one of the strongest programs in the state."

"What a surprise," said Simanton. "I knew we had a good program, but I didn't know they were out there keeping track like that. It is all about making sure we have healthy kids."

Whitewater ranked 13th in the state, Victor School, in Ravalli County, ranked number 1 while Hi-Line schools to crack the top 20 included Frazer Elementary at 10, Hays Lodge Pole at 18 and Bainville at number 20.

"It takes time to get people educated on the importance of these kids having breakfast, said Simanton. "It takes everybody getting involved, from the parents to the bus drivers and teachers."

Simanton said when breakfast was first offered at the school in the late 90's, some parents took it personally and felt that their children should and would be fed at home. She said as social norms continue to change, with both mother and father having fulltime occupations that have them at work before the students are sent to school, it has helped alleviate the perceived slight of breakfast at school.

"It's not an insult to anybody," she said. "We just know our kids do better, they behave better, they think better on full stomachs."

The breakfast menu, in its first year, consisted of cold cereal and toast. Today, children are treated to a menu consisting of dozens of choices of mostly scratch-made meals. Simanton said that the change partly occurred for the benefit of the older students who were more interested in 10-minutes of more sleep than a bowl of cereal.

"If you have the smell of bacon for them when they get off the bus, that is huge," Simanton said. "Once you get them into the habit of eating breakfast, then their body tells them that they are hungry and want breakfast."

Each morning during the school year, Simanton and her kitchen assistant, Casandra Stenvik – who also drives bus in the morning -- serve over 40 breakfasts each morning and second servings are available.

First grader Theodore Anderson was one of the first students to show up for school on Wednesday morning and promptly signed his name on the breakfast list and took his bowl of sausage and eggs to a nearby table before chowing down.

"I usually like to eat macaroni and cheese," Anderson said. "But for breakfast I like oranges and cereal. I am happy about breakfast."

Shortly after Anderson took his seat in the cafeteria, he was joined by classmate Kenan LaBrie. Labrie said his favorite breakfast item is pancakes smothered in maple syrup and peanut butter.

Though the breakfast program has become a popular one at Whitewater, Simanton admitted that lunch is generally busier.

"There are still a few of those older kids who still want that extra 10-minutes sleep and say they can't eat this early," she said. "So we serve more lunches than breakfasts on most occasions. About 75-percent (of students) eat breakfast and we are generally at 100-percent for lunch."

Lane Engel, a senior at Whitewater School, has been eating breakfast at Whitewater since his kindergarten year and says he is more than happy to partake in what is served.

"The only time I would miss it would be Saturday and Sunday," he said. "You got to have food, or you can't function."