Fighting for Rations at Third Lunch — Opinion

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS AN OPINION PIECE! THERE IS PERSONAL BIAS INCLUDED.

Having the last lunch of the day is a pain.

There are more students than food; by the time the first two lunches have passed through, there isn’t much food left.

The salad bar is picked clean. No sour cream, one carrot left, and bananas are spoiled.

The warm food areas are bare as well. Chicken burgers and cheeseburgers are almost gone, and pizza is stale.

The Problem

Cafeteria employee Fay Brock was asked if they would ever consider refilling the salad bar. Brock replied, “No, we don’t refill third lunch.” They provided no further comment.

Head of the kitchen, Ant’tjuan Wade, stated that the salad bar is not refilled at third lunch due to food waste. This is completely understandable because it is the last lunch of the day, and all food must be thrown away. However, it is not fair as we do not choose our lunch. Third lunch should be able to get the same opportunities as every other lunch.  

When asked about the low food supply at lunch, Lakes students expressed their opinion:

Sophomore Zee Brownie says, “There’s like scraps and the food is mixed in with the other toppings.”  

Senior Branasia Chinn says, “They never have cucumbers and tomato basil wraps!” 

Senior Lee Qualls says, “There was chicken teriyaki and rice, but they ran out of rice.” 

Senior Ja’Maree Holmes says, “I was scraping the walls of the sour cream [bin] for my nachos.

The Solution 

After speaking with Wade, Qualls reported an hour later that third lunch was finally full. That same day, Qualls and I spoke with 10th grade administrator Sarah Shaw. We reported this problem, so admin are now aware of the situation. They agree that all lunches should have equal amounts of food. Looking forward, we hope to continue seeing change. We greatly appreciate the cafeteria staff for listening to students’ complaints and doing something about this problem.