If there is one thing students look forward to while at school, it’s lunchtime. Most of the time, students don’t take the time to appreciate the challenging work our cafeteria staff does behind the scenes to keep us safe and healthy.
Our cafeteria staff consists of eight extraordinary ladies who come to work early every day to prepare and feed about 500 students and staff for breakfast and about 1400 students and staff for lunch. Preparing food for that number of people can be challenging because the amount of food that is consumed is different every day, depending on the menu. “We have different reports that we can run and look at the last time we’ve had the menus,” says Amy Rohrer, manager of the cafeteria staff, “and honestly, some of it is just guessing.” With three separate lunches, it can be hard to guess what teenagers will eat, and it can be challenging to prepare it with the amount of time they have.
The staff rarely gets breaks throughout the day. “…from the minute we get there until we leave, we’re trying to get everything done or cleaned,” Rohrer stated. Students are customarily released two minutes early to head to their next class, and in those two minutes, the lunch staff must clean and restock their lines in both cafeterias. After that, they must work extremely fast and get straight back to work for the next round of students. Once the lunches are completed, the staff goes to prep and clean for the next day.
The next time you find yourself waiting in line for food, think of all the hard work that goes into making sure you and hundreds of other students are fed.