School lunch options: Are they enough?

By Kaylin Blocher

As people get older, they make more personal decisions, high school students included. One thing they have a choice about is their diet. But unlike what they eat, high school students don’t have a choice about what is provided to them.

For the average person, the York Suburban High School cafeteria has a lot of meal options—but are they really as diverse as they seem?

Ella Plotkin is a freshman at York Suburban. She only buys food a few times a week, but she says compared to the middle school lunch options, the high school has a leg up.

“I mean, there’s more drink options, more snack options, more extras, that kind of stuff. When I came to the high school, it was one hundred percent better.”

But does the addition of more options mean there’s less quality in our food?

Junior Elise Kloske is a lenient vegetarian who frequently buys school lunch. As an athlete, it is important that she has a sufficient meal each day to sustain her activity level. She questions the health benefits of school lunches.

“Sometimes they have okay options for the main meal, but still they don’t feel very healthy. I feel like I eat a lot of carbs from the cafeteria ’cause that’s all they really have to offer.” 

Piper Stuart, a senior, also experiences difficulties purchasing food as a vegetarian. She thinks it would be even more difficult as a vegan. 

“I don’t know what they eat. Like the peanut butter and jelly, they can’t eat the cheese. I guess they can eat the salad, but half of the time there’s two options: there’s the salad and there’s the salad with chicken, and normally the only option is the one with chicken.”

In conclusion, the addition of permanent vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options would benefit many York Suburban High School students. It seems like a good starting point could be enhancing the salad bar.

I’m Kaylin Blocher, Trojan News.