Lunches are supposed to be for eating, but many students use their 30 minute break as a jam session for unfinished work.

“I always skip lunch to study whenever I have a test after lunch and haven’t thoroughly studied. One last review always helps,” Gilli Rozynek ’16 said.

However, skipping lunch means students are often hungry at the end of school, especially those students who have sports practice. These students feel that an afternoon food option would be life-saving.

Staples soccer forward Sebastian Wick ’17 is one of these believers. “It’s essential that athletes get a pre-game snack so they have enough fuel to perform at the highest level,” Wick said.

Now there are more food choices to help fuel these students.

The newest additions to the cafeteria are sushi rolls, Naked smoothies and new meats to add to personalized sandwiches.

Before the new food options were added, Olivia Consoli ’16, who considers herself a picky eater, often left the cafeteria with only a plate of pasta.  However, now “Naked smoothies [are] something to look forward to,” Consoli said.

According to Superintendent Elliott Landon, the decision to bring new foods to the cafeteria was to provide more options for students. “With so many students, and with so many individual food preferences, our goal is to provide something healthy and nutritious and appealing for all of our students,” Landon said.

Zoe Samuels ’17, who enjoys the sushi, thinks the cafeteria has become healthier for the most part. “Many things are becoming whole wheat, and although I wish the coffee and hot chocolate was still here, it is healthier to not have them in the cafeteria,” she said.

Some students are so excited about the changes that they wish they could have access to the cafeteria after lunch, and Principal John Dodig believes there is a feasible alternative that can satisfy everyone.

“If they had a vending machine with boxed sandwiches, now that would be something,” Dodig said.

“A healthy, easy accessible snack before practice would make a huge difference in performance. Everyone would play better if we had something like that,” Kenji Goto ‘16 said.