Every day students at FHS and all across America look forward to one 30 minute time block. Just one small slice of the day that gives students everywhere the motivation they need to continue on. Lunch time, this glorious break, is used not only for eating, but socializing, advertising, working and relaxing as well. In order to refuel themselves, many FHS students purchase a lunch from one of the three lines in the high school cafeteria. Though most students remain blissfully unaware, the food doesn’t just magically appear on those lines ready to go. To ensure that we all have food to eat each day, we have a cafeteria staff to prepare the meals for us.

Some members of the cafeteria staff arrive as early as 5 a.m to start preparing the breakfast meals for students, while most others arrive around 8 or 9 a.m. to start preparing for lunch. The cafeteria staff operates like a well-oiled machine each doing their part to ensure that everything is ready to go.

“I cook for the a la carte line, the pizza, and I also cook for the salad line, the chicken and the french fries, and I do the fruit,” Tammie Senock said.

The cafeteria staff works hard to ensure that students will be able to enjoy their lunches.

“I like it when [the students] come in and they’re happy when we have certain [food items],” Patty Spencer said.

The ladies that make up the staff at FHS are a dedicated bunch, that show nothing but care and concern for the students they serve.

“Most of the kids here are really nice, they all speak to me, they all say please and thank you, which is amazing in this day in age for teenagers to be saying that,” Spencer said. “We honestly do care about what happens in the school and what happens with the kids. Just say hello,” Spencer said.

With such nice ladies working to make students happy there shouldn’t be any complaining though, right? Unfortunately, more often than not, that isn’t the case.

“We hear all of [the student’s] feedback. We care. It’s not like we don’t care, there’s just only so much we can do. There are certain guidelines that we have to follow, we don’t always like them, but there are certain rules you have to follow whether you like it or not,” Dana Sharpless said.
Complaints about sub-par school lunches are not hard to find at FHS, but the lunch ladies are not the people to go after.

“It’s hard because we have to do some things a certain way and a lot of the times the kids don’t understand that it’s not us that are doing it, it’s the government that is doing it,” Spencer said.

“Just try to be understanding that were here to do a job. We’re not here against [the students], we’re here for them,” Sharpless said.

Next time you are headed through the lunch line, just remember to appreciate the kind ladies serving you and take some time just to exchange a few words.