Penn Kidder Campus has earned a spot among the top 10 schools in Pennsylvania in the Governor’s School Breakfast Challenge, winning a trip to Lincoln Financial Field to have breakfast with the governor and meet the Philadelphia Eagles mascot.

Penn Kidder Principal Holly Mordaunt and Nutrition Group director Rebecca Farina presented the honor to the Jim Thorpe Area School District board last week.

The Governor’s School Breakfast Challenge is a three-month statewide program run by the Pennsylvania Department of Education that encourages schools to increase participation in the Universal Free Breakfast Program while incorporating more nutritious and local foods into their meal offerings. In the most recent challenge, 68 schools across Pennsylvania successfully completed the program. Penn Kidder was among only 10 named to the top tier.

“Two days a week, we offered lower-sugar items and fresh local produce,” Farina said of the challenge period.

The district plans to select a mix of students and staff to attend the event in Philadelphia. Superintendent Robert Presley, however, will not be among them.

“He’s a Cowboys fan; we’re not taking him,” Mordaunt joked.

All schools that successfully completed the challenge, not just the top 10, receive a banner to display in their school, a certificate and a breakfast recipe book.

The Challenge was created to recognize schools for increasing breakfast participation while implementing sustainable changes that incorporate more nutritious and local foods in their meal offerings. During the 2024-25 school year, 92.9 million breakfast meals were served in Pennsylvania schools, an increase of more than 11 million meals since the 2022-23 school year.