Dear  Future President,

My name is Brenna Harms, and I am student at Chaska Middle School East. I am writing to you to address the issue of the quality of school lunches. Our school lunches are borderline disgusting. The food is either over cooked, underdone, or stale. It is always is cold and soggy. If you were to look around our lunchroom you would be able to see over half the kids bring lunches from home, because we don’t have good tasting or filling lunches at school. I have read some letters about this topic and they have also stated that their school lunches are bad. For example.. “The school lunches that are prepared for us students are almost disgusting. The food is almost always undercooked, even chicken, and the food is soggy and cold” (Carmen R.) This was another student also noticing the low quality of school lunches. Many kids around the world would agree with me about the quality of our school lunches. Specifically there is one person from Miami, Florida that wrote about this issue too. His name is Carmen R. he believes that if we prioritize some of the U.S. tax money we could have a bigger budget dedicated to school lunches, so students can be full and focus more on learning than their grumbling stomachs.The future president should consider this because is important to the youth's education around the world. If we have proper meals for lunch, the more we can focus on learning and our grades. That will also help the education and job growth around the world because kids will be more dedicated to school and the future.

I think the best way to approach this issue is to at least provide more nutritional meals and more options at lunch time. I’m not saying we need to pass laws, but I am saying to give more money towards school lunches so kids won’t be scared to look at the food, let alone eat the food. Personally I just want to come to school and be able to eat a filling and good tasting meal. Basically, all students want better lunches at their schools. For example, I asked my lunch table about this issue in a survey- what they would prefer: home lunch or school lunch. Out of 10 people, 2 people said they would prefer school lunch than home lunch. This shows that I’m not the only person who believes school lunches need improvement. A student from another school claimed that... “On average a student gets 20-30 minutes to get through the lunch line, sit down, and eat their food before they are sent back to class expected to perform at a high level for the remainder of the day.”(Kelly). This matters because kids shouldn't have to worry in the morning about packing a lunch for school. Kids should know we will be fed and fed well at school with plenty of time to eat. Many kids count on school lunches to provide food that will fuel their bodies and their minds. If you have nutritious meals you will be able to learn and think better in class. In another letter, I found interesting facts... “an estimated 30.6 million students in America eat school lunch everyday, but only 6 percent of the lunches served meet the nutritional requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of the 94 percent of students who do not receive a nutritional lunch, roughly 38 percent are overweight or obese.” If kids can depend on schools giving them good meals then they have more time to worry about finishing their homework. My point I’m trying to get across is that we need filling meals to keep us going during the school day.

Most people agree with me, but others also think the lunches we have now are fine. They think that they should stay the same because some schools do have good and nutritious lunches. A student stated “Some of the other schools have full meals and fresh fruits and vegetables and sometimes we aren't even full when we’re done eating.” (Deangela E.) This matters because some schools have good meals but others get served cold and gross meals. Some kids believe there is nothing wrong with their lunches but they are one of the select schools with decent meals. There is a difference between the quality of lunches between schools which causes kids to think differently on this issue.

There are many things that could be done or that the future president can do, but one thing that I would like to be done is that the president will give more money towards school lunches for more nutritious meals. The Global Goal that this issue connects to the most is Quality Education because all kids should get the same amount of food and quality of food. This also can affect the UN positively because if kids are more full and satisfied the less the UN has to help with hunger matters in the world. This should be a priority for the future president because it affects youths' education. We need filling and good meals at lunch to make it through the school day strongly.

Sincerely,  

Brenna Harms

This picture is a connection to my issue because this is basically what are lunches look like everyday, when you see this you want to turn away but we are expected to eat this and feel satisfied. Is this acceptable?