The national, non-profit School Nutrition Association (SNA) has named Karen Atherton, Nutrition Services Secretary for Raytown School District, Missouri, the Mountain Plains region Employee of the Year. The award recognizes the valuable contribution of school nutrition employees who exhibit a remarkable commitment to both their school meal program and the students they serve.
“A highly valued team member, Karen is an asset to her program and has provided a reliable support system for many years,” said Shannon Gleave, RDN, SNS, School Nutrition Association President. “She finds solutions and alternative methods when problems arise to ensure her students are fed healthy and tasty meals each school day.”
Karen Atherton has worked in the Nutrition Services Department for more than 20 years and possesses a wealth of knowledge in child nutrition program operations. Atherton’s dedication and customer service skills are exemplary. She supports families navigating negative school meal balance challenges, assisting them with managing payments and encouraging completion of free and reduced applications for families who qualify. Working closely with the district’s finance department, she developed a plan to collect community donations to assist families struggling to pay for school meals.
Atherton has been an agent of positive change and a problem solver. She created a Google Form to simplify the work order process after kitchen managers expressed frustration, resulting in improved operations and increased employee satisfaction. Although she works in the administration building, Atherton gladly volunteers in the kitchens and cafeteria when needed to do whatever is required to ensure students are fed without interruption. She works efficiently to resolve everything from equipment repairs to issues with nutrition software or point of sales systems.
Atherton attended education sessions at the 2024 Missouri SNA annual conference and gained valuable insight on knife skills, new products and USDA Foods to share with staff. She completes Child and Adult Care Food Program training annually, which helps her to monitor program operations to ensure USDA regulations are adhered to. Atherton also attends Summer Food Service Program training each year and gains insight used to update and improve the district’s After School Meals Program.
The Employee of the Year Award was created to recognize outstanding school nutrition employees who influence the quality of school meals through customer service, an interest in young people, cooperation, work attendance, creativity, participation in professional development and their willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty.
Atherton was announced as the Mountain Plains region Employee of the Year during an online awards ceremony on April 30 in advance of School Lunch Hero Day, celebrated on May 2, 2025, to honor dedicated school nutrition professionals. The accomplishments of Atherton and all SNA regional award winners will be profiled on SNA’s Instagram (@PowerofSchoolMeals), Facebook (@SchoolNutritionAssociation) and (@TrayTalk), and on TrayTalk.org around School Lunch Hero Day. SNA award winners will also receive recognition in School Nutrition magazine, SNA e-newsletters, on schoolnutrition.org and at SNA’s Annual National Conference in San Antonio, TX, in July.
