According to the Renton School District home page “the goal of school meals is to provide the right mix of fruits, vegetables, dairy, protein and whole grains to allow students to perform at their best.” Do they meet this goal? This is an average idea of what a school lunch looks like:

 (Photo Credit: The Eastern Shore Post)

An Athlete’s Feeling’s on School Lunch…

I interviewed a varsity student athlete that eats school lunch daily and performs highly in practice, Kashawn Spencer Jr. I interviewed  Kashawn to get his outlook on lunch here and how it affects him. I started asking him questions like, “Does the lunch here fill you up?” He responded, “yes it does fill me up.” I proceeded on to the next question, “do you think we could do better on the school lunch?” Without a doubt he says, “yes we could. There are some options that are not appetizing.” Is lunch here good for our bodies?  He says casually, “Yes, lunch is good for our bodies.” “Is the lunch here a big enough portion for an athlete that needs all five of the food groups in [their] meals?” He explains, “no there is not. There are a lot of food groups you have to get yourself.”  How does lunch affect your health throughout the day? Does it upset your stomach or does it give you energy?  He responds, “Some options hurt stomachs, but some of the options don’t give energy.”

Is lunch available for everyone? He thinks, then explains, “a lot of the options are gone when I get there but yes, it is available for everyone.”  Do they provide seasoning of your likings?  “They do not provide any seasoning,” he explains. Do they provide good drinks with the food? “No they do not,” and he talks about how milk does not mix well with some of the options. Do you think the drinks they provide with the food go down well?  “No, they do not,” he says. At this point I had no further questions for Kashawn Spencer Jr. In conclusion, we can take away that Renton High School’s lunch options can help and nourish the students here, but there are a few grey areas worth discussing. Ultimately it would be in your best interest to bring your own options from home like fruits and vegetables of your choice.

A Vegan’s Outlook on School Lunch…

I interviewed Josh Willecke next, a PE teacher here at Renton High, to get his outlook on lunch as a vegan and a teacher. I wanted to get his point of view on the nutritional value of our school lunch because as a teacher, a PE teacher nonetheless, he sees how lunch affects students around Renton High even though he does not eat lunch here. It seemed important to interview him due to his knowledge on healthy foods and what athletes and students should eat to help perform in the classroom and in sports practice/games. I started off by asking him questions like, is the food worth the long wait?  Mr. Willecke responds, “no, because the options are minimal and the salad bar is the only healthy option.” After hearing this from Mr. Willecke we see not only do some students have thoughts about the school lunch, but so do Renton staff. If our school had better lunch would students perform better in our more physical classes like, yoga, net sports, team sports, or even in p.e foundations? We may never know. I asked Mr. Willecke a few more questions such as, do you think the beverages they provide with the school lunch goes down well? He sits for a moment then replies, “no, because it could make your stomach upset.” Willecke’s interview was short, but it gives us good points on why we should eat healthy and try harder to do so. He gives a good point to why our lunches are the way they are, “the lunch staff are not given the right materials to make healthy options.”

All in all, lunch helps us for the most part. It would just be smart for you to bring your own options as well to make sure you’re eating all of the four food  groups to ensure you’re achieving your best performance. We learn that lunch at Renton High is okay for what it is and the lunch staff  make it work with what they have. We are grateful that they do what they do for us.