October 18-22 is National School Lunch Week, where schools honor their cafeteria staff, but feeding more than a thousand hungry teenagers with hot meals every day, three times a day, is a heroic feat that deserves daily recognition. 

Breakfast is served every morning before school from 7:30. It is only available in the cafeteria. Some examples of the foods on the menu for breakfast are cereal, pancakes, and sausages. This year, federal COVID relief money has made the normally $2.40 breakfast free. 

Lunch is given in three different areas. These areas are of course the cafeteria but in addition to the cafeteria you may also receive your food at the Student Center near the stairs leading to the gym, and the cart by the Student Center.  Both of these locations are side by side. Food at the Student Center locations is limited so it is better to be early.  In the past, school lunches cost $2.75, with a second lunch costing the full adult price of $5.50.

During the mornings the cafeteria is not crowded. There are many seats open and available for students. There are people that sit down and eat but there is almost never a line to get breakfast. Students are also known to use the cafe in the early morning to eat breakfast while finishing up their school work.

During lunch, the cafeteria is often at maximum capacity. The cafeteria’s lunch lines are always long and students fill up the tables inside and in Mene Square. Many students also eat lunch by the student center, where there are two more areas where you can pick up lunch.

The cafeteria manager determines the menu based on what distributors import into the state. This year’s most popular meal is pizza. In the past, students gave the thumbs up to the chicken and pasta.  Staff arrive when the skies are still dark to begin preparing the meals.  Some meals they are able to prepare a few days in advance, while others come right from the freezer.

The staff also prepares the plates beforehand so that serving the rush of students is an efficient process. The beginning of the school year saw long lines and supply issues.  This has been remediated since September.

The amount of breakfasts and lunches served in the beginning of the year was estimated to be around 1,000-1,100 plates to our students. Right now it is estimated that 800-1000 lunches are being served everyday. The average breakfast being served in the morning now is 250 plates. 

Student-athletes take turns serving lunch as part of their school service commitment. Some teachers volunteer to scan student ID cards to allow the cafeteria staff to resupply the serving tables. Even though meals are free to the students this year, the school still needs to pay for the food and then get reimbursed by the federal government. Thus students need to have their ID scanned so the cafeteria can have an accurate accounting of the expenses.

The staff works very hard everyday to be prepared for the breakfasts and lunches of the week. New Cafeteria Manager Curtis Haida gets involved with all aspects of the meal program: from state-level meetings and staff trainings, to budget and ordering, and overseeing the preparation, service, and cleaning.