By Charles Christiansen
Photo by Charles Christiansen
Students frantically wait, watching the clock ticking down, begging their teachers to leave class just a minute early so they can get to the cafeteria first and not wait in line for the rest of the lunch period. While a large percentage of students buy school lunch, many have always said how poorly school lunch tastes and how bad the meals are. Is that really true, though? Is school lunch underrated?
School lunch has been a staple for students in the Willow School for years, allowing them to not bring their own lunch but instead to buy lunch on campus. With different varieties and dishes every day, something new is always on the menu for the kids at Willow.
In grades 8-12, students enter the cafeteria after their second block where a hard-working staff member is preparing and putting the food on trays for the students. All you have to do is wait in line and tell them your lunch code. They then debit $3.25 from your school lunch account, and you can get your meal, complete with a main dish, extras like fruit, and chocolate or regular milk. They also have packets of sauces like ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. School lunch in hand, you are then free to sit in the cafeteria or anywhere on the first floor to eat.
So, how do students feel about the lunch they get at school?
“The nachos made my stomach hurt,” noted Alex Eskew, a senior at the Willow School. Nachos are often on the high school menu.
A sophomore, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “The lunch was OK some days and horrid others.” This student has since stopped eating school lunch, preferring instead to bring a meal from home.
Some students had mixed feelings. “It’s alright,” said another anonymous sophomore. “Some good meals I have had are chicken and fish. My least favorite meal was the sandwiches, but something I also really disliked is the lunch line.”
Some students thought school lunch did not deserve the bad reputation it has, and they actually enjoyed the meals.
“School lunch has gotten better. It’s underrated,” said Ayan Jayawickramarajah, a freshman at Willow. “The best meal on the menu has to be the pizza. Even if they are sometimes a little burnt, it is usually the overall best meal. The worst meal is probably the jambalaya. It’s not that bad, but the flavor is lacking compared to the other meals.”
“School lunch is underrated,” reiterated Asher Berkner, a sophomore at Willow. “I think the food hasn’t changed that much over time. There definitely have been bad meals in the past. The good meals I’ve had were pizza, hotdogs, and hamburgers.” Berkner regularly eats school lunches and has tasted nearly every meal offered, making him a virtual expert on the matter.
Willow High School’s Child Nutrition Manager, Catherine Francois, has her own take on what the most popular cafeteria dishes are, and she’s in a special position to know from reactions in the line. “The students love chicken, baked or barbeque. Also pizza, hot dogs w/ chili French fries, spaghetti with meatballs, and red beans with rice and cornbread. Oh, but their absolute favorite is our baked macaroni and cheese.”
Lunch is not the only time of day students can buy lunch. The Willow School also offers a breakfast dish every morning before school starts.
“I feel school breakfast has a lot more thought put into it, which is why I prefer school breakfast rather than school lunch,” said Nijel Baddoo, a sophomore at Willow. Baddoo regularly eats school breakfast but chooses to bring his own lunch to school.
Opinions are equally split, and the jury is still out on whether school lunch is worth buying or not, but something all students can agree on is the dread of waiting in the lunch line. So if you don’t have a second block teacher willing to let you leave class early, it might be better to bring your own lunch from home.
