USDA recognizes UF's lab school for nutritious breakfast program

USDA Southeast Region Administrator Donald Arnette leads the applause after presenting P.K. Yonge School Food Services Director Maria Ziegler with the USDA’s Best Food Service Practices Award

If eating a nutritious breakfast every morning improves learning, as studies show, then students at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School must be real eggheads-as in hard-studying, not hard-boiled.

P.K. Yonge, the laboratory school for the University of Florida College of Education, has received a Best Practices Award for 2004 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for expanding student participation in its nutritious school breakfast program. During the 2003-04 school year, the creative use of promotional materials and menu items, including USDA-donated commodities, produced a 38 percent jump in student and faculty participation in the school’s breakfast program over the previous year.

Donald E. Arnette, southeast regional administrator for the USDA food and nutrition service, presented the award recently to PKY Food Service Director Maria Ziegler and PKY School Director Frances Vandiver. Arnette cited research studies showing that children who have access to good nutrition at the beginning of each school day are more attentive and better able to learn in class throughout the day.

Ziegler oversees the school’s cafeteria under a contract P.K. Yonge has with the School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) food service department. The UF lab school was one of 20 schools nationwide to receive the best food service practices award.

Others attending the ceremony included Florida Rep. Edward L. “Ed” Jennings Jr. of Gainesville, School Board member Jeannine Cawthon, SBAC Food Service Executive Director Eldon Chambers, SBAC Deputy Superintendents Sandra Hollinger and Keith Birkett, UF Education Associate Dean John Kranzler and three PKY third-grade classes.