The Mycenaean

Everyone needs to eat lunch every day. It supplies nourishment and energy to keep the body and mind functioning effectively throughout the day. is especially important throughout the school day, when students are continually encouraged to improve themselves and their work.

 

However, this is not always the case. Many adolescents who do not have access or time to make food at home frequently seek school lunches. These meals have been around for a long time and serve students of various grades and ages, but they haven’t always achieved their role of feeding them.

 

Many students can confirm that these meals are heavy in salt, trans fats, and sugar, all of which are dangerous for students. While this crisis is a public concern, little progress has occurred since Congress increased the criteria for the National School Lunch Program in 2010.

Since the passage of this regulation, school meals have included more whole grains, more fruits, and vegetables. They still sell a lot of highly processed meals like hotdogs, fries, and pizza.

While it is reasonable that school districts may not have the funds to provide students with nutrient-rich foods and beverages, it is true that they can work harder to attain this aim. Students at LRHS agree with the previous stemnet and advocate for change.

VanAnh (Anna) Nguyen, a junior who regularly consumed LRHS lunches for the past year, said that food here and in other schools in the county have some questionable properties; “school food last year caused me to experience extreme pain and fear.”

As a sophomore, Anna spent a lot of time at the cafeteria as a refuge from school stress. She ate a batch of fries supplied by the school around May and became ill with food poisoning. “I almost passed out at dismissal, it was so bad that my friend noticed me lying down on a bench trying to calm down from the severe discomfort and called my parents to pick me up,” said Nguyen. 

When she arrived home, she recognized her suffering was connected to what she had eaten, realizing she experienced indigestion. “At the end of the day, I was alright, but the point is, how many more students have or will experience this? The education system should develop a solution to this problem as quickly as possible,” said Anna.

Other students have had similar experiences, such as Dilma Hernandez, a junior who has been eating cafeteria meals for years. She described having terrible indigestion and stomach discomfort after eating pizza. “The experience of agony and discomfort after repeatedly eating the same limited meals is ridiculous. It’s frightening to think that in order to eat and nourish myself at school, I have to be in agony; there should be an alternative to eating properly at school.”

Stories similar to these continue to go unnoticed, and students struggle while expressing their critical need to eat during the day. Schools and counties must take the initiative to put a stop to this and ensure the safety of their students.