Tasty expedition time well spent

Accepting an invitation to tag along on a tasty expedition recently with our amazing food services folks who have been working on some expansive projects was an hour well spent.

With the craziness of the pandemic year, along with students coming back to more or less normal attendance this school year, the numbers for cafeteria meals for students have been inconsistent.

Since precise planning is key in feeding our students, it’s useful to be as consistent as possible, particularly as extensive preparations are required. Paramount, however, is feeding our kids healthy foods, ensuring good nutrition. To do this, it’s important to get them to try their school’s cafeteria.

As Deputy Director of Student Nutrition & Well Being Deborah Westbrook shared, “I don’t just want to serve kids, I want them to eat. Just as in instruction, we don’t just want to teach, we want kids to learn.”

To that end this department has undertaken some innovative new strategies including input from not only the cafeteria workers, but also the students at the different school sites. At the beginning of this school year, for example, food services held a mini “food show” at the Clovis High School cafeteria with one of the brokers used by the district, inviting all the cafeteria workers from across the district to participate.

An array of different types of foods and dishes were provided and input received. One of the most popular choices was the Chinese meal.

Back to the tasty tag-along: CHS Freshman Academy was selected as one of the first taste-testing locations because as the single ninth-grade facility, students merge at this site from all over the district, and it’s a perfectly representative student population.

Coordinator of Student Nutrition Sharon Garcia described having wanted to try some tasting projects like this for years. This day was the taste-test for the Chinese meal presented in the perky, classic Chinese take-out boxes, complete with chicken, fried rice, egg rolls, and fortune cookies.

Shane Leatherwood, assistant principal of CHSFA, gathered 10 students and brought them to the cafeteria shortly before the regular lunch. Westbrook and Garcia passed out the Taste Test Survey sheets for the students to fill in after their taste-testing.

Sonia Campos, CHSFA cafeteria head led the way, passing out the Chinese food boxes to students.

It was a lively interaction, with students seemingly eager to offer their feedback. I overheard several:

Arcel Peña offered, “The chicken has a really well-balanced seasoning; better than Panda Express!”

Another said they didn’t care for rice, but “loved” the fried rice served.

It was a great success, and students enthusiastically offered to share the happy results of the taste-testing with their friends.

Clearly, they did because the number of school meals the next day was up by over 33% and have been steadily increasing since.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at

[email protected]