GRANT TO HELP AT-RISK TEENS.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

A statewide program designed to prepare young children for classroom learning has moved to the high school level to give at-risk teens the good start they may have missed years ago.

Moorpark's Community Continuation High School received a $400,000 Healthy Start grant this summer to establish programs and services - including a free breakfast - to help its students get back on track.

``Most Healthy Start programs concentrate on the very young students,'' said Rosemary De Yoe, coordinator of the school's program and mother of a continuation school student. ``These kids need a healthy restart, a renaissance, a second chance.''

The school is converting a classroom into the program's headquarters, from which students will be able to find social services, entertainment, activities and eventually medical help.

School officials are using the grant to establish programs in the four areas identified by students, faculty and parents as the most important: nutrition, career, after-school activities and medical health.

The first program to come out of the grant was the career exploration center, which teaches students how to write a resume, how to find an area of interest to pursue and even how to find internships and job experience.

But of all the plans the school has for the students, the idea of bringing in healthy foods for lunch and providing breakfast for students is the one students said they need most.

``A lot of our friends, we try to eat turkey and chicken, but they don't have anything like that,'' said Paul Amorelli, 18. ``And the food they do have, they don't have enough of. If we're last in line, there's usually no food left.''

School Principal Gabino Aguirre said meeting a student's nutritional needs is paramount because students who don't eat a healthy diet do not have the stamina to do well in school.

Program officials said they are working to determine how to provide healthier foods to their students, including breakfast. The district is still reviewing plans on how to supply free breakfasts to the high school students.

The district currently provides lunches to all district schools, but educators said the meals are higher in fats and sodium than is healthy.

``That's kind of what our kids eat all the time,'' Aguirre said. ``Most of the time teen-agers are left to feed themselves and they go straight to the freezer or to the fast-food restaurant.''

The grant also will pay for several after-school activities the school will debut next month. They include a partnership with a Ventura-based Kids Arts program and a collaboration between the school and the health science department at Moorpark College.

Another aspect of the Healthy Start program is providing social services to students and their families.

By having representatives working closely with the campus, service groups and the school would be able to pool resources and help a greater number of students and families in need, Aguirre said.

Finally, the school, along with the Pediatric Wellness Center, will provide physical exams to all 100 of its students in November and December.