As students of Erie High school go through their school days, the group of people behind the counter seem to go unnoticed as they feed swarms of hungry teens. Led by Manager Tia Jensen, the Cafeteria staff make it their mission and put in several hours along with meticulous planning to ensure students are not left hungry.
Jensen expresses the importance of having multiple choices and good options when it comes to dining in high school. She explains, “my rule is if I don’t think it looks good and if I wouldn’t eat it, I don’t serve it. That’s how I perform and that’s what my staff also knows, if we’re not gonna eat it, what makes us think that students are gonna eat it?”
The staff, including Randy Terrell who works as a server, are committed to feeding the students despite their shorthanded staff, with a total of 4 workers where there would normally be 6-8, these staff members are left with not only more work but are extremely under-recognized for their efforts. Jensen experesses, “Between all of us working we have about 31 hours total in the kitchen a day there’s other high schools that are serving under a thousand meals a day..”
Jensen explains her estimate of statistics compared to other schools within St. Vrain “We at this high school actually serve close to the most students in a high school in the district, we run with the least amount of people.”
Manager Jensen ensures that the rules are followed particularly when it comes to students with dietary restrictions. “We don’t ever for any reason say such and such has a gluten diet because of Hippa. On our computers when you enter your numbers in, it will show up and then as they’re leaving to go sit down I make sure that they don’t have one of the things that could make them sick.”
As for a student’s perspective, Kaydyn Ohnstad shared positive feedback when it came to the lunch “I really like the Crispitos and pizza, those are some of my favorites. I also really liked the French toast sticks but they took those away.” Ohnstad goes on to talk about the overcrowding stating when Erie previously had three lunches it really helped spread out the amount of people in the cafeteria.
The Crispitos may be a favorite for now, but with new incoming recipes, students will soon be able to look forward to exciting foods like jambalaya and chili in the cafeteria.
Operations in the cafeteria are evidently made by the Lunch staff in order to provide for students everyday, Jensen explains it can be hard to make a good meal all while staying within the nutritional guidelines and six week menu cycle.
“My reason to be here is for you guys to like the food more. We now offer a lot more choices than when I was in school and there’s plenty of fast food places, but for a thousand meals a day we obviously are doing something right,”Jensen remarked.
The school cafeteria and the lunch staff are working hard to maintain an expansive menu and welcoming environment. While the profession is typically underappreciated, Erie greatly values our lunch staff as an integral part of our culture.
