Colonial Elementary and Conshohocken Elementary are among the top 10 schools in Pennsylvania honored as Governor's Breakfast Champions after both boosted student breakfast participation by 25 percent.

Staff, students and school board members from both Colonial School District schools celebrated the recognition Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Lincoln Financial Field, where they toured the Eagles' home stadium and met Eagles cheerleaders. The Governor's Office organized the ceremony to cap the third annual Governor's School Breakfast Challenge.

Colonial Elementary has now earned the honor three years running.

Conshohocken Elementary made the top 10 for the first time.

Walking tacos and daily announcements

The 25 percent jump didn't come from one trick. Both schools used a mix of strategies, according to the Colonial School District: letting students carry breakfast items to class, adding portable options like walking breakfast tacos and protein pancakes with lower sugar, and encouraging cafeteria staff to build positive relationships with students at the morning meal.

In the prior year's challenge, Colonial Elementary's principal drove participation up by making daily breakfast announcements, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. At that ceremony in September 2025, Acting Secretary of Education Dr. Carrie Rowe said the challenge shows schools can remove barriers to learning by innovating breakfast service.

Across the district, breakfast participation rose between 11 and 25 percent during the challenge period. Colonial and Conshohocken posted the highest gains.

Statewide picture

Pennsylvania launched universal free school breakfast in the 2023-24 school year and started the challenge the same year. During the 2024-25 school year, Pennsylvania schools served 92.9 million breakfast meals, an increase of more than 11 million since 2022-23. More than 70 million of those meals went to students at risk for hunger or from low-income families, according to the state education department.

In last year's challenge, 59 schools completed the program. Each boosted participation by 8 to 17 percent. The top 10 champions, including Colonial Elementary, exceeded that range.

What's on the menu

The district said upcoming free breakfast options will include breakfast fruit pizza, bacon-egg-and-cheese flatbreads and a Swiss chard frittata.

Free breakfast is available at every Colonial School District school. Elementary students can report to the cafeteria from 8:50 to 9:05 a.m. Middle school kiosks are open from 7:40 to 8 a.m. The high school cafeteria, coffee shop and kiosks serve from 7 to 7:30 a.m.