Raymondville school district adds third serving line at high school cafeteria

RAYMONDVILLE — “Vegetables?”

“Yes,” said the student passing through one of the serving lines in the cafeteria.

The server placed teriyaki chicken and rice on the white disposable plates in one of the lunch lines in the cafeteria of Raymondville Early College High School.

It was a Thursday afternoon and students joyful and hungry moved through the lines in a steady stream of conversations and appetites and aromas and flavors hovering in the steam above the food. They picked up salads. They choose Italian sandwiches or enchiladas, chicken and meatballs and rice or noodles. And they surrounded tables and booths with their backpacks and friends and enjoyed a few minutes away from class.

The Raymondville school district this year has added a third serving line to its cafeteria. Along with the deli bar and the salad bar and all the pizzas and burgers and sandwiches, students now get a line with rotating items, said Benjamin Clinton, deputy superintendent of the Raymondville school district.

“Yesterday was pasta day, today it was wings, tomorrow is enchilada day,” he said.

The day for enchiladas came on Thursday, and hot cheese enchiladas with rice and beans served well the hunger of the students filling the cafeteria.

“We want our kids to eat good healthy meals,” Clinton said. “The biggest reason we’re doing this is if kids are hungry, it’s hard to learn. It’s hard to feed the mind when the body is hungry. So when the kids are full and they feel good about coming to school, they are going to learn better.”

Briana Sanchez, 17, liked the salad choices at the school.

“They have lots of salad options,” said Briana, a senior. “I like the lettuce and spinach and avocado.”

A few minutes later she sat with her friends at a round table where they all seemed content and appreciative.

“It’s really good,” said Briana as she worked on her salad of lettuce and chicken and Dorito chips and sour cream.

“You put ranch?” said a boy at the table and she laughed and said no, it’s sour cream, and then stated clearly that she did not like ranch dressing.

She put her hand to her mouth now and laughed and her laughter became part of the medley of sounds and laughter filling the air of the cafeteria.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Miguel Umanzor and Abdiel Resendez, both 17-year-old seniors, sat together at a long and crowded table. Abdiel ate slowly the cheese enchiladas and the rice and the beans and Miguel sifted through a bag of chips alongside the crumpled paper of a finished meal.

“I think it’s awesome they have expanded the options,” Miguel had said earlier. “We get different types of food, like Mexican, American, Italian, Asian. Wednesday we had wings boneless and bone-in option.”

Abdiel: “It adds more variety to what we can eat and enjoy. You can combine different foods.” And then … “It’s good because it helps with the picky eaters.”

Dulce Vargas, 16. enjoyed her salad while sitting with Ricardo Rojas III, 17, as he ate an Italian sandwich.

“I am enjoying it a lot,” said Ricardo.

The tempo and the intensity of the lunch hour slowed as plates and napkins and bags disappeared from the tables. A boy tapped on his smart phone, a girl finished off her enchiladas, and a young man shoveled zucchini and lettuce in his mouth.

And then there was the ending of things. The sound of a Dorito bag opening and the pop-pop-popping of staccato conversations and the rumbling of garbage cans rolling by on wheels and the whishing of sweepers were suddenly cut short by a loud blatant bell telling them to return to class.

The kids grabbed their flowered backpacks and their phones and rose from their seats. A girl in faded jeans seemed to skip toward the doors while a boy in a gray jacket lumbered by with a large bag over his shoulder.

And Clinton looked on and smiled at the noticeable vitality of kids ready to return to class after having a meal of their choosing, meals not shipped in from somewhere else, but cooked and prepared at the school cafeteria.

“This program is unique in the Valley, reinforcing Raymondville ISD’s dedication to innovation in education and student well-being, “ Clinton said.

And now the cafeteria, swept and mopped spotless and fresh, waited for its next lunch crowd of students.