Mountain View School District Family Breakfast
Kingsley, PA – On Thursday, December 3, 2015, faculty, staff, and students of the Mountain View School District celebrated the Family & Consumer Sciences Day—the national celebration that educates families about the importance of preparing healthy meals and “dining in” together.
In an effort to encourage students and their families to prepare and eat a healthy meal together at home, one thousand forty-three (1,043) students, staff, and faculty of the Mountain View School District in both the high school and the elementary school buildings shared a home style breakfast together. Students in the Foods I class along with Elaine M. Chichura, D.Ed., Family and Consumer Sciences teacher; Robert Presley, Christine Kelly, high school and elementary school principals respectively; Erin Oakley, Food Service Director; Diana Slick, Counselor for At-Risk Elementary Students, and Pete Regeski, high school librarian, planned this district wide breakfast. Students and adults shared breakfast while having an opportunity to socialize outside of the traditional classroom setting. As one of our student’s remarked, “This could never have happened in a larger, more impersonal school district.”
In addition to sharing breakfast in school, individuals were encouraged to join in a national campaign sponsored by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS). Individuals showed their support for the “Dining In” campaign by committing to “Dining In” on the AAFCS web site. Their commitment to the project appeared on an interactive map on the web site. In total, six hundred fifty-six (656) individuals living within the Mountain View School District joined the more than one hundred twenty seven thousand two hundred seventy (127, 270) people worldwide in committing to prepare and eat a healthy meal with their families on December 3rd.
The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences has plans to feature the Mountain View School District family breakfast project in an upcoming campaign to encourage more families to share healthy meals together.
With the numerous benefits to families preparing and sharing meals together, “Dining In” in school or at home calls attention to something simple that families can do to be healthier. “We are proud to take part in this important initiative,” Chichura said.
December 3rd was chosen as Family & Consumer Sciences Day to honor AAFCS Founder Ellen Swallow Richards, the first female graduate of MIT.