At Columbus High School, students are helping shape what’s being served in their cafeteria, and there are two things at the top of their wishlist: more chicken wings and baked potatoes.
Food service manager Rosean Roberts and her team took the first steps toward fulfilling those requests and suggestions Thursday morning with a student taste-testing of new menu items.
Sophomores LaRentia Ham and Ralston Owens had the honor of digging into General Tso’s and sweet chili chicken wings, cinnamon bun cups, strawberry yogurt parfaits and muffin tops to tell cafeteria workers what students would like to see on the menu.
But for Ham and Owens, the tasting wasn’t just a treat. It was a responsibility. Both serve on the Superintendent’s Student Council, a group of students across the district who meet monthly with Interim Superintendent Craig Chapman to offer feedback on everything from athletics to testing procedures and most recently, school meals.
“I feel like we’re the voice for the school,” Ham said. “We’ll ask around and we’ll get feedback and then tell Mr. Chapman what (students) said and what the district could do, what the school could do.”
The biggest things students want right now, Ham said, are more flavors of chicken wings and for baked potatoes to be served more often throughout the week. Beyond that, students are simply hoping to see something new.
“They just wanted more variety,” Ham said. “Basically it was the same things over and over the past few years. They just want to add a couple things, switch things out or rotate. … Certain foods, some may not like as much as others, so we were like, ‘Can we take that out and put in a different option?’”
After hearing recurring conversations about cafeteria choices, Chapman invited district Director of Child Nutrition Mia Johnson to the council’s October meeting to speak directly to students about what changes they wanted to see and what new ideas they had.
Just a few weeks later, Ham and Owens were standing before the buffet with bright blue “Official Taste Tester” stickers decorating their lapels. Between mouthfuls of sweet chili chicken wings and spoonfuls of icing-covered cinnamon rolls, the pair gave Roberts and her team rounds of approving smiles and nods. In the end, no one food item came out on top. Ham and Owens said students would love them all.
‘It feels like I’m being heard’
While some suggestions couldn’t be honored, like Ham’s hopeful request to bring food trucks out weekly in lieu of cafeteria lunch, most of the students’ requests were well within reason, said Joey Barnes, the district’s public information officer.
“These kids … they’re so intuitive, and they have so many great thoughts about the direction they want to see their school go in,” Barnes said. “… You would think the high-schoolers would come in asking for the world, and they don’t. … It’s simple things and it’s little things like this that can make a big difference, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Columbus High already boasts a broad menu, offering items such as spaghetti, baked pork chops, red beans and rice, lasagna, taco soup and barbecue rib sandwiches, along with fresh fruit and potato wedges, but Roberts said students have shown there’s still room for improvement.
“It helps us to know what they’re interested in, what they want to eat and the things that we’re doing that can actually improve what we already have implemented, so that way they can bring more students in and enjoy lunch,” Roberts said.
There’s a balancing act of flavor and nutrition when considering new menu items, Johnson said, taking into account sugar, sodium, carbohydrate and caloric intake to ensure all items fall within the state’s nutritional guidelines.
“We’re trying to bring the restaurant here to the high school and still keep the requirements … by (Mississippi Department of Education),” she said. “… Everything is still nutritional. … But we want to make sure that our students still have a word. … That’ll help us a whole lot because … if they tell us what’s really good and what they don’t like, we can kind of adjust our menu.”
Even before taking their first bites, Ham and Owens said seeing the administration’s efforts to honor their requests made them feel valued.
“It feels good,” Owens said. “It feels like I’m being heard, so I like it.”
“It’s really nice to have a voice for our friends around us so we can tell them what really goes on versus just what you see when you come in on a random day,” Ham added.
New menu items will begin appearing in lunches next month, but at least for now, those changes are focused on Columbus High School.
“This is our first stop,” Johnson said. “Plus, they are more mature, and they can tell us more (about) what they need versus the smaller students. … Statewide, the high schools are one of the hardest … to feed. If you go to any school in the state of Mississippi, when we go to our conferences and stuff, we discuss how we can get those high school kids to come back and enjoy food more.”
Chapman said the Superintendent’s Student Council will continue to play a role in shaping student experience, lunch included.
“Statewide, high school students, they know what they want,” Chapman told The Dispatch on Monday. “They just kind of know what they like, so we’re just trying to find ways to connect with them. They’ve had a lot of ideas of what they would like to see, and we’re going to listen to them and try to put these things in place to support them.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
