Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
Every school morning, Jeanie Owens is up at the crack of dawn and at the school to set up breakfast for those students who want it.
This morning, she’s heating up burritos, a fan favorite, she said.
She has to get it all done by 7:30 when the kids start coming in so they can eat before classes begin at 8.
“Bacon, egg and cheese is their favorite,” she says as she deftly moves the pans holding the two dozen burritos into ovens in the Ocracoke School kitchen.
She declines help from a curious reporter.
“Nope,” she said. “This is how I roll.”
Owens, the principal, usually prepares breakfast items the afternoon or evening before, sometimes with the help of Jade Lopez.
“Yesterday they had scrambled eggs and breakfast potatoes,” Owens said. “That went well.
Generally, they don’t like sweet breakfast items, pancakes or waffles. They want something savory—until Friday. That’s our muffin day.”
Sugary cereal is only allowed on Fridays, she said. Otherwise, they have their choice of the featured item (i.e., burritos, croissants, bagels, smoothies, McMuffin-type sandwiches), yogurt, fresh fruit, fruit juice or plain Cheerios.
After the breakfast window closes at 7:55, the leftovers are moved to the teacher’s workroom for the high school students to purchase.
Owens says that “ensuring access to nutritious foods reflects our commitment to fostering a healthy, supportive learning environment where students can start their day feeling energized and ready to learn.”
All students get as many milks as they want throughout the day.
The office also has a small fridge stocked with juices that middle and high school can purchase for snacks.
The students pay for the breakfast offerings. While the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax fund granted the school money for this project, it didn’t cover the whole year of breakfasts, Owens said.
Health and CTE teacher Gwen Austin usually serves, sometimes with the help of Stacy O’Neal.
Serving the breakfast is an added teaching opportunity for Austin.
“I get their undivided attention,” she said. “So we get a chance to talk about food labels and what they’re eating. I get to reinforce everything I teach in class and quiz them on what food group it is.”
While the kitchen isn’t the size of a large-school kitchen, Ocracoke’s has three ovens, two freezers and a large refrigerator to cook breakfast and to host for other events.
The entire school population is 151 students.
Owens posts the week’s breakfast offerings on the school’s Facebook page and sends it out via text message
The other clientele who eat the breakfasts are teachers.
After she gets the breakfast all set with Austin in charge, Owens places a large speaker in the entry area for some morning arrival music that Emilie Burrus or Mary McKnight choose.
Then “Miss Jeanie” is out the front door to greet the students.
It’s important, she says.
“Because it starts the day off right,” she explains. “Greeting our wonderful students in a positive way hopefully makes them feel seen and important.”
Then she goes around to all of the elementary classrooms to greet the students before the day starts.
“The kids here know that they are loved and that we see them,” she said. “Saying hello to each other is a value that we have here.”
Since it’s a Thursday, Owens greets them by saying, “Welcome to Friday Junior. Tomorrow’s even better,” she said. “That’s when we do our Friday Dance!”
And she’s off to do morning announcements, meetings and the myriad other duties as principal of the pre-K to 12 Ocracoke School.
