This story is the first article produced by the staff of The Kirn Cave, a new middle school newspaper hosted at ALechoes.com. The Kirn Cave student reporters are mentored by Echoes staffers, including Kirn Cave founder Dean Pope, and are advised by Ms. Paula Cultice. We are excited for this new initiative and hope you, the reader, enjoy this new era of journalism from Kirn Middle School. -Gerry Appel, Echoes Adviser

School lunch at Kirn typically includes a main food, fruit, vegetables, starch, and milk. Most people don’t get the full tray; some only get the mandatory fruit or vegetable. But is that enough food?

The Kirn Cave staff sent out a survey to the students. Of the 116 people who responded, 72% said that they don’t get fed enough food at lunch. Students gave ideas for how it could be improved and what could be added to lunch. The majority of students said they would like more options with their lunch. The most common suggestions: more food, meat, and dessert.

In response to “How could lunch be better?” The highest percentage said, “Adding more food to certain days when the main food is not filling would help.” 

We asked, “What drinks would you like to have offered?” The predominant answer was water, juice, and Gatorade.

When asked, “What type of foods would you want more of?” 64% of the students responded they wanted more fruit in their meals. A few kids would like food from restaurants or fast food places. In some schools, they do have vendors so they can have food from various places like McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. 

The final question of the survey was “What type of sides/snacks could they add?” The mass of the students wanted more types of chips such as Takis, Cheetos, Doritos, and other spicy chips. 

Hopefully, the school lunch program will listen to the students’ voices and make some changes to fill our stomachs at lunch!