Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day. At Alex W. Spence and Robert T. Hill middle schools, it may be the meal that keeps students in school.
The Power Breakfast Program began meeting last month in Spence’s and Hill’s cafeterias. The mentoring program allows successful adults to eat breakfast with selected DISD students one day a week at 7 a.m.
The breakfasts are sponsored by Zero Tolerance for Violence, a neighborhood organization dedicated to ending violence.
“There are a lot of decisions to be made by these kids,” says Anne Groben, ZTV’s volunteer coordinator for the power breakfasts.
“I don’t think that once kids have gotten out of elementary school that they have decided on their paths. The most important thing we can do is to encourage these kids to stay in school and to provide an adult they can rely on and trust.”
Hill principal Martha Lochner says teachers and counselors chose students for the breakfasts who are at risk of dropping out and who are open to a mentoring relationship as a way to help fix their problems.
“I honestly believe you can make a difference in a child’s life with a one-on-one mentor,” Lochner says. “In a middle school, a teacher sees up to 150 children a day. There’s only so much of yourself to give.
Representatives of ZTV say they hope the breakfasts can help students make positive life choices. The program will attack a matrix of issues facing the students that directly or indirectly relate to violence, such as dropping out, self-esteem and academic performance.
Big Brothers and Big Sisters is acting as an advisory group for the program, and DISD and the Mental Health Association are training volunteers. The breakfasts are being piloted in five DISD middle schools, with five volunteers going to each school, says Groben, who grew up in East Dallas and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.
The pilot schools were chosen based on the location of available volunteers and with help from the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Groben says. ZTV eventually wants to increase the number of volunteers and expand to every middle school in the district.
“I hope the program will show to a significant number of young people that there are adults who care about them and who are willing to give time to help them during the difficult parts of life,” says Janie Bush, a member of ZTV and a mentor at Spence.
“I feel, as I think so many other people do, so helpless about the way our children are floundering in this world. This is a real tangible opportunity to help at least one child.”
For more information about the program, call Anne Groben at 904-9399.
