Tahoma High School has been providing free Pancake Breakfasts for students monthly for over 6 years, this event organized by just 10 leadership students who are given less than an hour to make over 200 pancakes from scratch and be ready for school by 7:40 is a testament to Tahoma’s leadership teams ability to connect students. However, regulations by the United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees the nutritional content of food provided by schools may have an issue with Tahoma’s long-standing tradition.

These regulations state that snacks must be at least 50% whole grain and under 200 calories. While pancakes are certainly not high in caloric content by themselves, the whole grain requirement of the pancakes and sugar content of the syrup may present an issue for leadership. Despite the threatening nature of these regulations for the event, Ryan Simpson, Leadership & Alternative Educator at Tahoma High School, states that “we’re serving  pancakes each month until we’re told we can’t anymore.”

Leadership has been advertising the event through morning announcements, on TV throughout the school, and even on video announcements, many students forget the event is even going on. Tahoma Student, Jacob Rankin, says he’s “never even heard of it”. Leadership may have to take a different approach to advertising to grab students’ attention. This is most likely due to the early nature of the event and challenges students to arrive earlier to attend. Simpson has acknowledged that when the pancake breakfasts follow themes with different flavors and variants of pancakes, there are more returners.

September was regular pancakes, October featured pumpkin spice following a fall theme. In months to come, we can expect chocolate chip, blueberry, and even green St. Patrick’s Day pancakes. So grab a friend and head down to the Wilderness Project Area and enjoy the next free Pancake Breakfast while they still last.