Submitted By: Jessica Lee
One of my favorite times during the school day is lunch. Lunch at school is a time for me to relax, eat, and spend time with friends. At my current school, Kennedy Middle School, students either bring lunch from home or wait in a lengthy line for school lunch.
As I am in eighth grade, I have seen many changes in our school lunch throughout the years at Kennedy. The effort to make school lunches more “healthy” and “nutritious” is clear. For example, our potato chips at school now are all “baked”, and the popular yet sugar-filled smoothies have been eliminated from our lunch menu, and are now replaced with healthier drink choices. Although we have a large selection of food items to choose from, including soup and drinks, I believe our school lunches are still lacking in what an ideal meal should look like.
In my opinion, the most concerning food items that are absent from our regular school lunches are fruits and vegetables. The average lunch items provided in our cafeteria do not have sufficient amounts of fruits or vegetables. Even though we have a salad bar, most students choose to buy from the regular lunch line. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a daily diet, and they provide many vital nutrients for health and maintenance of the body. Some of these essential nutrients include: vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber, potassium, and folate. In general, vegetables and their nutrients help boost daily performance by keeping brain function at its peak. Despite the schools’ efforts to improve school lunches, in general, I believe that there still exists a sizable gap between healthy, nutritious lunches and the current food options.