Bernalillo schools nutrition director wins Southwest director of the year
Debbie Trujillo’s regional honor came as Bernalillo schools fed free summer meals at three sites, highlighting a program serving about 2,800 breakfasts and 2,900 lunches a day.
Bernalillo Public Schools nutrition director Debbie Trujillo has been named the Southwest Director of the Year, a recognition that lands in a district where school meals are a daily lifeline for families. The district also identified Trujillo as its 2026 New Mexico State Director of the Year, an honor recognized at the New Mexico School Nutrition Association’s state conference on Friday, June 5, 2026, at Isleta Resort and Casino. Her award comes as Bernalillo is serving free breakfasts and lunches from June 8 through July 31 at Rotary Park, Athena Park and the Peña Blanca Community Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Trujillo’s connection to the work runs deep. A Bernalillo High School alumna with decades in the district, she said serving food to students is personal to her and described the children she feeds as “my babies.” She also said breakfast or lunch may be the only meal some students receive in a day, a reminder that the cafeteria is not just a lunch line but part of the district’s basic support system.
That role carries real weight in Bernalillo, where Trujillo oversees 41 employees and helps run a nutrition operation built for volume as well as consistency. Bernalillo Public Schools serves 11 schools and roughly 2,749 to 2,852 students depending on the school-year snapshot, and about 69% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. In that setting, school nutrition is not a side service. It is a core part of how the district keeps students ready to learn and keeps families from having to bridge every meal on their own.
The department’s public profile says Bernalillo serves about 2,800 breakfasts and 2,900 lunches each day. It also says students can choose from eight or nine lunch options daily, including scratch-made pizza and traditional red chili with pork. Those details matter to parents and taxpayers because they show a program trying to do more than feed students in the fastest way possible. The menu choices suggest a district that is trying to keep meals familiar, varied and worth showing up for.
Trujillo’s recognition is part of a larger awards process run by the School Nutrition Association. State winners advance to regional judging, and regional winners move on to national judging. Regional winners receive a pin, certificate and $50, while national recognition continues at the association’s conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, July 12-14, where about 6,500 people are expected to attend. For Bernalillo, the honor puts a public spotlight on a department that shapes student well-being every day, from the school year to summer feeding.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
