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Barely half of American adults eat breakfast on a given day, but if the new FHS food program has its way, there wouldn’t be any students going to first period on an empty stomach. Thanks to the new food program at FHS, students who can’t afford a breakfast to start off their day will have the opportunity to eat breakfast no matter what.
“Most (students) take cafeteria food for granted,” said FHS kitchen manager Bertha Morrison. “But there are those who don’t have the money to buy a breakfast, so they go hungry.”
In order for students to have a nutritious meal before school, the FHS food program opens the cafeteria from 7:15 to about 8:15. There is also the option for free or reduced price on the students’ breakfasts, but the new breakfast program isn’t available to students with lunch cards yet.
“We have students every day that try to come down here and buy a breakfast with their lunch cards,” said Morrison. “We have to say ‘no’ to them because we don’t have that kind of a food program yet.”
According to Morrison, those students who are eligible for free or reduced lunches are eligible to take part in the new breakfast program as well. Along with the new breakfast program, other opportunities for student nutrition are available that didn’t exist last year.
“Last year, when the school board decided (for food-services) to go solo, we had to look at what we could do for the students,” said Morrison.
According to Morrison, the new program has been quite successful. The prices have been lowered on many of the ‘A La Carte’ food items, a new soup and sandwich program has been launched at the LASER school, and more food choices are available to the students who participate in the lunch card program.
“It really meant a lot to me when a LASER student came up to me and said, ‘Thank you, this is the first time I don’t have to go back to class hungry,’” said Morrison.
Although the new programs have progressed over last year’s student nutrition, there is still room for improvement.
“We’re still looking for new and interesting ways to improve the students’ nutrition,” said Morrison.
The main aspect of the new student nutrition program that Morrison is focusing on now is getting more input from students.
“Unless the students tell us what they want, we (the cafeteria staff) don’t know what we can do for them.”
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