ORANGEVALE, CA (MPG) – Casa Roble freshman Catherine Patton is unsatisfied with the meals available to students at her school.

“Here at Casa Roble High School, the quality of school lunches is debatable,” Patton wrote in an essay titled, “Health is Wealth” that she recently wrote for one of her classes. “The salad bar was removed and there isn’t a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Your school lunch should contain the five food groups: fruits, vegetables, protein, grain and dairy. Most of the lunches consist of pizza, hot pockets and more processed foods.

“The school isn’t exactly lifestyle-friendly for those with eating disorders, allergies, diabetes, or other unique circumstances. Often, the portions in food they give are too little, not enough for the students who do choose to eat school lunches, still leaving them hungry after lunch.”

Raj Rai, Director of Communication for the San Juan Unified School District, explained that the lunches currently available to students are within the recommended guidelines.

“School meals meet or exceed the latest federal and state requirements and are designed to ensure that students receive a balanced meal low in fat and sodium,” Rai said via email. “Current guidelines for lunch require that we offer five components daily: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meat/meat alternatives and milk. A student must take at least three of the five required components and at least one of those three must be a fruit or a vegetable.”

Speaking as someone with personal experience who graduated from high school six years ago, school lunches, good or bad, were not available for free when I was a student like they are today which is a positive.

“San Juan Unified is committed to serving healthy meals that support students' academic efforts and a healthy lifestyle,” Rai said. “As a result of the USDA's extension of special COVID-19 waivers, we have been able to offer free meals to all students in the district this school year.”

The 15-year-old Patton argues that students with financial difficulties are unable to choose what they eat which is why schools should make an effort to serve healthy food.

“Some students have no choice but to eat school lunch, due to it being free,” Patton wrote. “If students have low-income families, they’re forced to get what’s cheap, whether it’s healthy or not, because their families cannot afford it.”

Patton believes Casa can do more to educate students about what they’re putting in their bodies outside of school as well.

“Casa could do a presentation to educate our students on nutritional value, health risks and spreading awareness,” Patton said. “In the mornings, kids will bring Starbucks, Dutch Bros and energy drinks, using them to cope, to stay awake during class and (they) often experience withdrawal. If students had a better outlook on what it was doing to their bodies, and the effects it could have on them in 10 years, it might change their mindset.”

An educational presentation isn’t the only idea that Patton had on how Casa can improve the food being served to students.

“Although we have a cooking class, it isn’t required,” Patton wrote. “A cooking class could be beneficial for knowing how to cook and for the healthy eating aspect. Our school could also start a gardening class and teach students to grow their own organic food and use that fresh food as ingredients in the cooking class.”

Once again speaking from personal experience, I attended Rosemont High School in the Sacramento City Unified School District. At Rosemont they have “The Green Academy” which prepares students for careers in biology, environmental science and culinary arts.

I enrolled in the program not because I wanted to be a chef, but because I wanted to learn how to grow and then cook food that we produced in the garden at our school just for fun. Implementing a similar program at Casa and in the SJUSD would be a great idea if funding permits.

Patton argued that if the school had the funds for it, some things students would enjoy include a smoothie bar and snack boxes that are like bento boxes filled with fruit, vegetables, organic hummus, juice, milk, water and a little desert.

“If you give kids pizza and burgers every day, 80% of the students will get sick of that,” Patton said. “You could have vegan food, a salad bar, Chinese food, sushi, smoothies, veggies, and fruit and 90% of the students would prefer it over the unhealthy food.”

However, Rai argues that some suppliers may be facing difficulties due to food shortages.

“Many of our food distributors are facing challenges in manufacturing and product unavailability or shortages may necessitate menu substitutions from our published menus on occasion,” Rai said.

Following a review of the SJUSD middle and high school lunch menus for April, chicken nuggets and patties, bean burritos, mini cheeseburgers, and pizza are offered on the menu daily. Fruits, vegetables and milk are also offered on the menu as part of the five meal components required by the school district.

“There are several health risks that come with the school lunches being served nowadays, like the high amount of salt, fat, sugar, and empty calories the foods contain,” Patton said. “Diabetes, obesity, cancer and more can all stem from school lunches. If we don’t make a change, the numbers for obesity and diabetes will just keep rising higher.

“It’s up to us to change the food we are consuming, to have healthy eating habits, to better our schools and our students.”