By Riley Copfer and Paloma Garcia
In Ohio in 2022 57.6% of kids enrolled in school ate from their cafeteria. The cafeteria is the central part of a school. It is where everyone comes together. This would not be possible without the cafeteria staff. Their position is often overlooked because of how normalized their service to schools everywhere has become.
At The Seven Hills School the cafeteria workers consist of Gloria, Harold, Keith, Shane, Jimmy, and John. They prepare all the food. Keith prepares the salad bar. Jimmy makes sure that all the food is stocked up. They also clean up and wash the dishes.
Gloria discovered Seven Hills through her husband, who found it in the newspaper. She was working at West Claremont at the time during the summer, but wanted a full-year job.
Gloria said her favorite thing about working at Seven Hills is “all the students and Harold.” Harold and Gloria have been working together for 26 years. They said the downside to working is “I will not lie, it is probably the dishroom.”
Harold found Seven Hills when his brother worked part time at Doherty. The Hillsdale campus needed maintenance people so they hired Harold nearly 35 years ago . Then they were short-staffed at the cafeteria. He was trained by Gloria.
He said his favorite part is loving the kids. “The kids make my day.”He loves joking around with the kids. He said, “It’s more like a family here” with all of the staff, teachers, and kids.
Elise is a student at Seven Hills School in 8th grade. She buys from the cafeteria 2-3 times a week.
She said this about the cafeteria workers “They are great. I love all the workers who are so nice to me and I really appreciate their service.” She likes the workers some much because she’s said that “They are always in a good mood.” She also thinks that “The food is great.”
Elise always liked buying from the cafeteria because of the nice workers and the great food. The cafeteria is a great place to be because of the food and workers. The workers are so nice. The workers love working here and the environment. Like Harold said “ It’s more like a family here.”
Sometimes the cafeteria workers are not appreciated for their work. But the workers at Seven Hills school really care about the food and the students. That is what makes it a great place to be. The maintenance people keep the cafeteria clean and ready for us to eat.
Overall, it takes a village to run the cafeteria and the workers are the core of that. From them prepping the food to serving it for us then cleaning up after us. Then do it all over again the next day. It really is a family here.