National School Breakfast Week celebrated

INDIANAPOLIS — Students at Westlake Elementary School kicked off National School Breakfast Week with a fun program hosted by American Dairy Association Indiana.

A free, healthy breakfast was delivered to each classroom. Students met a dairy farmer and had fun visiting with the Colts cheerleaders and mascots from Indy Fuel, Indianapolis Indians and the Indianapolis Colts.

“The facts are, most of these kids will not ever be on a farm,” said dairy farmer Kerry Estes. “They won’t see how milk is produced. So, if we can tell them about that, it is really special to me.

“I want to put a face behind the milk that they drink or the cheese that they eat. The message is that we care deeply about what we do. We work very hard to produce milk, cheese and other products.

“We love taking care of our cows and we love producing something tangible, that’s healthy and enjoyable.”

Dairy products provide seven of the 14 nutrients identified as important for brain development by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

On average, students who eat school breakfast have been shown to achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests and attend 1.5 more days of school per year, according to No Kid Hungry.

“Breakfast is setting students up to be successful throughout the day,” said Brooke Williams, ADAI director of communications.

“We’re encouraging dairy to be a part of that, whether it’s a carton of milk or yogurt. They’re going to be better students because of it.

“A carton of milk has 8 grams of protein, which is important for growth. We want kids to know that they’re going to be better students from eating breakfast. Why not do it?”