School Breakfast Challenge

Wisconsin School Breakfast

In Wisconsin, 1 in 6 children lives in poverty, and children often are not getting the food and fuel they need to learn. School Breakfast provides critical nutrition to children, especially in high poverty areas where kids might not get that nutrition at home.

School Breakfast fuels academic success. Did you know that kids who eat a healthy school breakfast do better in math, have higher attendance and are more likely to graduate?

Wisconsin ranks second to last in the country in serving breakfast to students from low-income families. Hunger Task Force is working with school districts, teachers and parents to ensure thousands of more hungry kids get a breakfast to start their day.

Wisconsin School Breakfast Challenge

Hunger Task Force, No Kid Hungry, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin are working together to sponsor the annual Wisconsin School Breakfast Challenge, which helps school districts provide a healthy breakfast and a great start for every student.

From December 2, 2019 through March 6, 2020, schools across Wisconsin will compete to serve more breakfasts to students. Not only will schools win cash prizes for increasing participation, this year offers a “Big Cheese” bonus award for all participating schools.

Step-by-Step

When does the challenge start and end?
- Start: December 2, 2019 End: March 6, 2020
How do we win?
- There are two ways to win:
  1. When schools sign-up to be in the challenge they will automatically be placed into one of the following categories based on their district size: Colby, Swiss, Mozzarella or Cheddar. All schools within the same category compete against one another. Winners from each category will be determined based on growth in the percentage of the student body participating in breakfast. The analysis will compare the Average Daily Participation (ADP) across December 2018 through February 2019 to the ADP across December 2019 through February 2020. Data will be provided by DPI and analyzed by No Kid Hungry.
  2. All schools, regardless of district size, may choose to compete in the optional Big Cheese Bonus category. The two schools with the most points, as submitted on the Big Cheese Bonus Round Scorecard, will win (participation data is not included in the analysis). The scorecard for this category is due Friday, March 6, 2020. Winners in the Colby, Swiss, Mozzarella and Cheddar categories are also eligible to win the Big Cheese Bonus Category. [The Big Cheese Bonus Round is detailed in the Breakfast Challenge Toolkit]
What can we win?
- First place (receiving $1,000) and second place (receiving $750) prizes will be awarded in
  each of the following categories.
  • Colby – district enrollment greater than 875 students
  • Swiss – district enrollment between 275 and 875 students
  • Mozzarella – district enrollment less than 275 students
  • Cheddar – districts implementing School Breakfast Program this year
  • “Big Cheese” – new this year, a bonus category for all participating schools outlined in the Toolkit below
How do we sign up?
- Easy! Fill out our Challenge Entry form.