Every school day at 7 a.m., most of University Academy’s Upper School students gather in the cafeteria for breakfast, and at 11:20 a.m. they all return for lunch. The structure and meal plan of these periods has become a pain point to some of the students, though not all.
Within the rowdy crowds that arise during both periods, students are found chatting and eating while separated by section into their graduating classes.
In the kitchen, there are two options for breakfast and lunch that vary every day and a guaranteed sandwich and salad to choose from at lunch. The students can only take one tray per breakfast and lunch, both of which are offered for free.
During lunch, some of the most popular items include the chicken patty sandwich, the pizza and the chicken nuggets. When it comes to the pizza, there have been several times when the lunch lines grow extremely long, and there was even an incident where the kitchen was out of pizza before everyone could get a slice. Because of that incident, it’s common to see students literally running to the cafeteria on pizza day.
However, even though the pizza seems fairly popular, some students have voiced their concern about it, becoming tired of having it so often.
“We have pizza a lot,” freshman Jayden Locke said.
Not only that, but the amount of food the students received is just as divisive. The food for breakfast and lunch is often in smaller portions, with only one side and optional things like apple sauce, other fruits and milk.
According to senior Michael Smith, after eating breakfast, “a lot of people don’t feel full; it doesn’t last till lunch.”
However, Locke said, “Yeah, I think since it’s free we should get smaller portions. The school isn’t getting any money from it.”
Regarding the two eating periods the students get, there are a couple flaws that have bothered students for a while. One of the most prominent issues is the amount of time provided to eat. Students only have 20 minutes to eat their lunches.
Adding even a couple minutes could make a big difference to the students, Smith said, which would provide more time to eat.
“I’ll take 25, because by the time we even get to lunch, about five minutes are taken off the time, so we only have 15 minutes to eat our lunch,” he said.
Timing issues seem not to apply to breakfast times. Smith said the time allotted for breakfast is more than enough because “the students arrive earlier than normal, so they really get more than 20 minutes.”
The reason the timing is so tight is that the schedule is meant to work around all Middle and Lower School students, as well. Everything is a balancing act.
No matter the subject, it’s important to keep in mind that every decision made about menus and timing is made with the entire K-12 school in mind and affects students and staff at every level.
