× Expand Photo: Courtesy of Sherie Char jumpstart_moanalua-acai-dawnige First-place winners from Moanalua High School with First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige, a judge in the Jump Start Grab & Go Breakfast challenge.

Breakfast options at public schools in Hawaiʻi will get an upgrade, thanks to 25 local teens who presented their own recipes in the Jump Start Grab & Go Breakfast Challenge. The inaugural contest on May 8 at Kapiʻolani Community College featured 14 different menu items—ranging from crunchy ube bars and breakfast burritos to cheesy egg muffins and fruit-filled parfaits. The students are from eight high schools on Oʻahu and the Neighbor Islands.

Each breakfast entry had to be flavorful, easy to pack and eat on-the-run, made with local ingredients, and simple to freeze and reheat in school cafeterias.

Photo: Courtesy of Jump Start Breakfast jumpstart-logo-fit

Here are the winners:

Savory

1st place: Pearl City High School, breakfast burrito (below)

2nd place: Campbell High School, bacon-and- cheddar muffin

3rd place: Kaiser High School, breakfast burrito

Sweet

1st place: Moanalua High School, açaí bowl (winners pictured above)

2nd place: King Kekaulike High School, ube breakfast bar

3rd place: Mililani High School, strawberry-banana yogurt parfait

The first-place entries—Moanalua's açaí bowl and Pearl City's breakfast burrito—will be served to public school students during the 2019-2020 year, as part of the Jump Start Grab & Go Breakfast program. Students who cannot afford breakfasts also can eat for free or for 30 cents per meal, based on their families’ incomes.

× Expand Photo: Cathy Cruz-George breakfastentries The Jump Start Grab & Go Breakfast Challenge had 14 different recipes from local high school students. The top two winners will be featured on school breakfast menus.

× Expand Photo: Courtesy of Sherie Char jumptart_campbell_baconcheddarmuffins-2ndplace Campbell High School's bacon and cheddar muffins, which won second-place in the savory category.

It’s a no-brainer that students who eat breakfast perform better academically and have more energy throughout the day.

But here’s the reality: Although breakfast is available at all 256 public school campuses throughout Hawai'i, the state ranks the lowest in the nation for student participation in school breakfast programs.

Photo: Cathy Cruz-George jumpstart_savory_winners-pearlcity First-place winners from Pearl City High School with their breakfast burrito loaded with protein-packed meat and cheese.

The Food Research & Action Center’s School Breakfast Scorecard found that students participating in Hawaiʻi’s School Breakfast Program fell 5.1% from 27,571 in the 2016–2017 school year to 26,170 in 2017–2018.

That’s why the Jump Start Breakfast pilot is necessary. It launched earlier this year in select public schools, with the help of a $60,000 grant from the No Kid Hungry national coalition. Schools in the program include ‘Ewa Elementary, Leihoku Elementary, Wai‘anae Elementary and Intermediate in the Leeward district; Central Middle, Fern Elementary and Linapuni Elementary in the Honolulu district; and the Big Islandʻs Hilo Union Elementary, Kapi‘olani Elementary and Waiākea High.