Although a healthy and balanced breakfast is promoted as mandatory for students to do efficiently in school, many students do not eat enough necessary nutrients in the morning while some do not eat at all.

Ninety-one students at Marlow High School participated in a survey that showed fifty students eat breakfast before they head to school.

When it comes to how breakfast impacts MHS students academically, seventy-two out of the total ninety-one students eat before school test days because of the belief that it helps to achieve better grades.

They believe that one will not perform his or her best on schoolwork with an empty stomach, while students who deny eating breakfast say that an empty stomach does not affect their grades in comparison to days when they do eat.

From a survey with MHS counselor Amy Herchock, she shared her view on students eating breakfast before school.

“Breakfast boosts his or her metabolism, and it is important for school tests,” Herchock shared.

No matter whether students eat food early in the morning or not, nothing matters more than one’s own health.

Eating early gets students’ minds into production, and it will benefit him or her far more than just regarding school grades by helping emotionally, physically and mentally, according to “The 7 Psychological Benefits of Students Eating Breakfast” by InnerDrive, an article that also goes into detail about the negative effects to students’ grades when not eating breakfast.

MHS has been offering free lunch and breakfast for the past two years to all students as a result of a waiver granted to schools from the United States Department of Agriculture.  

Traditionally, public schools have offered free and reduced breakfast and lunch based on family income, which will continue after the waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture expires.

The MHS cafeteria offers breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to 7:55 a.m. and lunch from 11:35 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. for all students throughout the 2021-22 school year.