School lunches are a necessity for students, they help students to get through school days without being hungry as well as giving students energy to make it through to the evening.
School lunches are a must for every school to have. The food provided to students is the amount just enough for students to feel like they are full. I myself have never left lunch still hungry after eating the school lunch. The reason that school lunches have set proportions and reoccurring meals is because of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The USDA is a government-funded program that controls the nutrition of school food and even lets students who cannot afford food, to get free and reduced lunch. Here at Mead High School, every student has the opportunity to have a free lunch and breakfast when they want it.
The food served at schools for lunch is also a tool for students to learn without going hungry. Without enough food to get through the day, students could have trouble with concentration, memory, mood, and motor skills; all of which a child needs to be able to be successful in school. This is part of the reason why Mead provides free lunch to students.
Director of Nutrition Services and Warehouse for SVVSD, Katie Cossette, (RDN) said “So a couple years ago, our taxpayers voted to make up the difference of what our parents were paying so that none of our children had to pay for their first free meal.”
MHS staff share comparable viewpoints on the value of both free and nutritious meals provided in our school, as stated by principal Brian Young, “When students are well nourished and well fed, their brains are better quick to learn, which is when they win for everybody.”
That said, I think school lunch is enough for students to feel full. Typically, the food placed on the menu includes healthier food choices that will help students learn throughout the day.
The main dishes provided for breakfast and lunch are more than enough to make most students feel full. I find that after going through the long lines to eat, the main course of the meal is enough without having to get extra vegetables or fruit. I have even noticed that many students throw away unwanted vegetables and fruit, leaving the food to waste.
Seeing students throw away their food makes me feel sorry for the hard work that I know the cafeteria staff have put in to prepare the food for us. It makes me curious about what the school does with all the food left unclaimed.
The lunch workers’ food waste is actually something they deeply care about. Cossette communicated “So there [are] maybe 10 entrees total that get thrown away at each site. And a site like this serves anywhere between like six to 800 meals a day.”
Similarly, I am left questioning about what makes students throw away food.
When it comes to the menu, my favorite options are the pizza and chicken sandwich. I look forward to the days when I can get a chicken sandwich for lunch or eat the pizza provided.
Other students say that their favorite items from school meals are pizza crunchers, dill chicken crispy sandwiches, and the famous crispitos.
I encourage students to think more about the food they are provided during school hours and the work that goes into it.
