SAGE DINING UNCOVERED

My parents used to ask me, “What did you eat for lunch?” Lately, however, they’ve stopped, because my responses were always the same: beef with salad, chicken with salad, beef with salad, chicken with salad with some rice intruding every now and then.

Many of us had big hopes that our new dining service, Sage, would offer a variety of cuisines as well as fresh, high-quality foods. Now that we’re almost halfway through the year, though, Sage has made some improvements but still has a ways to go. It would improve student morale to bring back some favorites and provide more variety. 

 In our fall lunch survey that 110 of you answered, opinions were divided about Sage. 41% said that the food in the cafeteria was good, while 38% said that the food was alright, but that you’ve had better. Overall, most of our peers were interested in the new service but complained about missing old favorites, repetition, or lack of vegetarian options. “They don’t have the best foods from last year like grilled cheese or waffles,” wrote seventh-grader Niki B., “and they do repeat foods that aren't good.” I agree with those requests, along with bringing back the flatbread pizza. 

Another tough aspect of Sage is that this year, all students must pay for it as part of tuition. This makes it more expensive for some families, and it’s unfair to those who prefer or need food from home. This pricing system also means that you can’t buy snacks until after school, although Sage did recently start offering snacks every day, even when there are after-school events. 

An anonymous 6th grader wrote, “I would like to see the workers striving to diversify and switch things up more, it's a little repetitive. We filled out a survey last year. I want to see that influencing what they make more often.” Pretty insightful, honestly. This has improved since the start of the year, but it would be remarkable to see new, never before tried recipes in the school’s kitchen. This could also be influenced by students. It would be phenomenal if all of our peers, with such amazing backgrounds and cultures, could share a family recipe of their own favorite dishes. It might be a bit ambitious, but definitely doable.

On the positive side, we do have some new options, like a pasta bar every day, and the same friendly, helpful staff as always. Others said that the quality is much better and the food is spaced out adroitly, making it much easier to pick and choose depending on the day. “It was a nice improvement because we could choose other choices if we don't like the main entree,” wrote William F.

In conclusion, we know that the dining staff is working hard to help us every day, and things like the line have improved a lot since the start. Sage is also reviewing the results of the Student Council survey we all took to offer more ideas. I hope that they will hear this feedback and continue to improve. And Sage, if you want more ideas, just ask, students are more than happy to help!