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Delectable dishes and options galore greet students in 2025

BY SHEILA HELMBERGER

When the menu includes sushi and smoothies, teriyaki chicken and dumplings you might think you are reading selections for a new restaurant in town.

These are just a few of the items included in the school offerings this year in Brainerd Public Schools. It is safe to say today’s school students are eating a lot differently than they did 20 or even 10 years ago. There is a lot to look forward to for students heading back to school this year, including what they will find in the school cafeteria.

Serving over one million meals a year: 5,000 lunches and 2,000 breakfasts a day, is a big job and the staff in the district does it well. Today’s meals include numerous options made from scratch or semi-scratch, cooked in-house, and grown fresh from local sources.

Sushi will be offered in the snack line at the high school this year as an exciting new addition for students as well as Asian style dumplings and noodles, cheesy pull apart bread and the Warrior breakfast sandwich as a lunch option. A chocolate and apple chickpea spread is also new and can be used for dipping apples, graham crackers and carrots. The grill and pizza line will offer more grab and go meals, also known as power boxes, for students and a new fava bean crisp will be coming later in the year. Ingredients are being sourced to offer ramen and poke-style bowls.

Some favorites that debuted last year, such as meatball subs, flatbread pizza and quesadillas, will make a return to the lunchroom this fall.

Alissa Thompson, Nutrition Services Director for Brainerd Public Schools, says special attention has been given to the breakfast offerings for students.

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“We believe breakfast is a vital part of a student’s day and we want to make sure they have options in the morning. We will be expanding our smoothie line and fruit bakes and will be offering overnight oatmeal in K-12. All cereals have reduced sugar options, and we are introducing more protein in our breakfast items when we can.”

Items prepared by scratch in the district include overnight oatmeal, turkey gravy, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, Italian dunkers, chili, sloppy Joes, coleslaw and more. Food prepared semi-scratch includes flatbread pizza, chicken alfredo, meatball subs, quesadillas, tacos and more.

With most schools having close to full kitchens, Brainerd Public Schools can bake its own bread including hamburger buns, banana bread, muffins, rolls, tea biscuits, kaiser buns, Italian loaf bread and more. The kitchen at Forestview Middle School can bake over 2,000 buns a day.

Brainerd Public Schools is in the final year of a 100K Farm to School Grant ending in February. Alissa says the money has made it possible to purchase new equipment as well as to source local foods through the Sprout food hub.

“We have been active members of the farm to school movement but never delved into local meats and dairy,” she says, “With this grant we have been able to start procuring beef and pork. This has allowed us to create new recipes and offer enticing choices to our students.” Local farms and other sources have also been able to provide fresh menu items and ingredients depending on the season, which include honey, apples, tomatoes, carrots, watermelon, peppers, berries and cucumbers.

Depending on the age of a student the number and type of menu options can vary. Kindergarten through fourth grade students have two choices at breakfast and a mainline lunch or Warrior cold lunch bag. Fifth through eighth grade students get two choices for breakfast. Lunch choices include a full salad bar, mainline lunch and a pizza line. Students at the high school are offered two choices for breakfast as well as a snack line breakfast. Lunch features a full salad bar, grill line, main line, specialty line and snack line. An order ahead option for subs or a chipotle burrito bowl will also be included some days.

All of this is accomplished daily by a staff of around 50 cooks, including site supervisors and program operators. If you have ever considered working for the Brainerd Public Schools food service, they are currently hiring. The job can be a good fit for almost any schedule with no nights and no weekends. The hours accommodate those with students in the schools and training is done on the job.

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Building connections and community, one story at a time

An intergenerational social studies project forged friendships between students at the Brainerd Learning Center and residents at Edgewood Vista Senior Living in Brainerd

BY JODIE NORQUIST

When Jana Stroot introduced a new intergenerational class called “Life Story” at Brainerd Learning Center last spring, she had several goals.

The social studies teacher wanted her students to connect emotionally with the senior residents they would be paired with for a special project. The students met weekly with nursing home residents and asked them questions about their lives. By the end of the semester, the students created a book filled with stories and photos for each resident and their families and presented it to them.

“I was hoping for the emotional connection, and I saw it happen,” Stroot explained of the friendships that developed across the generations during this project.

She wanted her students to strengthen their communication skills through interviews with the residents and to develop their writing skills by collecting and telling their stories in digital book form. She also hoped their senior partners would feel valued and important in their community.

Photo by Steve Kohls/Brainerd Dispatch

And she saw that happen, too.

Stroot was inspired to bring this project to Brainerd after learning about her nephew’s similar school experience at his graduation party. “I loved the idea and knew I could implement it here despite some initial roadblocks,” she said.

She had six students enrolled in this first class last spring, all juniors and seniors, and initially, they were nervous. However, each trip to Edgewood Vista lessened their anxiety as they all got to know each other through their weekly visits.

Kendall Lindberg, now a senior, and two classmates were matched with Curt, who was 98. She began to look forward to her Monday visits with Curt.

“I had a lot of fun,” Lindberg explained. “It was nice to go and hear about things he did in his childhood. It was amazing, and I felt like they looked forward to us coming there. We got attached. We really got to know them.”

Ainslie Hudalla, a senior, was assigned to Lucia, who grew up in Mexico. Lucia shared how she married at age 14 and had 11 children. She was in her 90s.

“We just had a great friendship. She was very sweet and easy to talk to, and it was just awesome listening to her life and everything that had happened,” Hudalla said of Lucia. She and another classmate were paired with Lucia. “It was amazing to see how she was able to turn everything around and get to the U.S. She was from Mexico and had to leave her children there. She taught me that you can go through anything in life and still become the person you want to be. She was very strong.”

Hudalla said it was nice to write about someone you could talk to every week. Plus, Lucia would hug the girls every time they left. She and her partner, Adeline Rohde, planned to visit Lucia and maintain their connection.

“Meeting with Curt every Monday, I got to know him well. Sometimes, he would repeat himself, but it was amazing to hear about his life,” Lindberg reflected. “He shared so many incredible stories from his childhood and how different it was from mine. It made me think about how we need to do our living and not just sit in our rooms and be on our phones. We need to experience life.”

Lindberg said organizing Curt’s memories and photos for the book was challenging for her and her class partners but also fun and rewarding. While this was a social studies project, the students gained a broader education from the experience.

At the end-of-the-semester party at Edgewood, the students presented their books to the residents and their families. Family members were thrilled to receive the books and stories the students collected, and they told Stroot they hope the program continues.

“I would personally like to grow the program,” Stroot said. “I see so much value in it, and I think it’ll gain momentum. At first, residents, too, were nervous. They didn’t know what this was all about, but after we started coming, a lot of them said they wanted to do it, too.”

Stroot said this experience gave her students a personal perspective of history, and perhaps some of them may investigate future careers due to this class. The course will be offered again in the spring, and Stroot hopes more students will enroll this year. Students became invested not only in the project of creating the books but in the friendships that were forged along the way.

“Some of the kids were in tears when we gave them their books. Some wanted to keep visiting even after the class ended,” Stroot said. “One gentleman said it made him feel

Some of the kids were in tears when we gave them their books. Some wanted to keep visiting even after the class ended. One gentleman said it made him feel special or valued, and it gave him something to look forward to each week.

- Jana Stroot special or valued, and it gave him something to look forward to each week.”

The “Life Story” project bridges generations and highlights the timeless value of sharing and preserving personal histories.

BY SHEILA HELMBERGER

Whoever said ‘Happiness is a wet nose and a wagging tail’ may have known what it would be like in a Brainerd school on a day that Rosie or Georgia came to visit.

Rosie, a mini goldendoodle who turned eight in March, belongs to Michelle Brekken, and Georgia, a 10-year-old English Bulldog belongs to Holly Holm. Each dog and its owner are a certified therapy team.

A visit from one of the twosomes to a classroom in the district is a highlight of the school week for students.

Michelle was a middle school social worker in Little Falls. After they became certified, she started bringing Rosie to school with her once a week to spend time in the classrooms there. She would interact with students, some who were struggling, and Michelle noticed the experience was a positive one. “Watching how Rosie and the students connected was pretty cool,” she says.

When Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, she took time off from her job. She says she retired earlier than she had planned but today she is cancer free. She serves as a member of the Brainerd School Board and visits elementary schools in the Brainerd school district regularly with Rosie.

Their first visits were to Lowell Elementary School and the Lincoln Education Center where Rosie interacted and played games with special needs students. The two spent time in a special education classroom at Forestview Middle School, and at Riverside Elementary Rosie became her own ‘station’ during station time where students could read to her. This past year the two made weekly trips to the elementary school in Baxter. A couple of years ago a visit from the mini goldendoodle helped to console a class at the school after their teacher passed away. “Dogs can kind of take on the emotions of people,” says Michelle. “After that visit she was exhausted, but it was comforting for the students.”

When in the schools Michelle uses the time to talk about being safe with animals and treating them with gentleness and kindness. She has used a slideshow to show students some of Rosie’s favorite things. Michelle talks with students about bad experiences they may have had with other dogs and helps explain it is never OK to pet a dog without first asking the handler.

Michelle says she could have chosen other places to take Rosie once they had their certification, and they did go to a few other places, but she has a soft spot for going into the schools.

“It’s an environment that feels good to me,” she says of the years she spent working in one. It is a good fit for Rosie, too. “She has a little vest. She knows when that goes on, we are going to school. The students find it easy to establish a connection with a dog. They just really feel a sense of calmness when they are around.”

Holly Holm and Georgia have been visiting fourth graders at Harrison Elementary School since 2021.

When Holly adopted Georgia after losing another special dog, she says the two had an attachment from the very beginning. “Georgia was 4 years old when we got her. When we picked her up, she was in rough shape. She was overweight, she had double earinfection, and she smelled bad, but she was the sweetest thing ever. She was just so chill. I don’t know what her life was like before we got her, but she was very timid and scared of everything. After a while she came out of her shell.

Then I realized that was just her. She was so mellow. Everybody loves her. Then I started to think how cool it would be for me to be able to help other people with her.”

Holly says she has never forgotten how much she hated it when she would have to read aloud in front of the class when she was in school. She wondered if she could make the experience a little easier for students who might feel the same way.

“I thought if I could bring her into these schools and students could read to her, who wouldn’t love to do that? Georgia could help build up their confidence.”

They went through training and became certified as a therapy team. Georgia is also certified as a Canine Good Citizen.

“My favorite part of going to the schools is the first day when we do the meet and greet. The students are so excited. They ask the best questions. We have had students say they practiced reading at home because they knew they were going to read to Georgia.”

A teacher chooses the students that get to read to Georgia for 15 minutes. They go into a quiet room without distraction. “I tell the students to sit on

My favorite part of going to the schools is the first day when we do the meet and greet. The students are so excited. They ask the best questions. We have had students say they practiced reading at home because they knew they were going to read to Georgia.

- Holly Holm

Georgia’s bed before she does or she’ll probably take all of it,” she says. “Once they are settled in, she will plop down beside them. Occasionally, she might enjoy a story so much she will relax and nod off. And she is a snorer,” laughs Holly.

“The students absolutely love seeing her. They will yell, ‘Hi Georgia!” across the school yard if they’re outside when we get there.” At the end of the year Holly says she reminds students that they can read to their own pets at home too, and even if they don’t have a pet, stuffed animals like stories, too.

Maybe belly rubs and naps should be a part of the day for everyone.

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