Dear President,

My name is Grady C. and I go to Henry Sibley High School in Minnesota. Did you know that high schoolers only get up to 850 calories per school lunch? This started in 2010 when the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” became a law that schools in America must follow. I feel as if this law should be changed and students should be allowed more food during school lunch because students are not getting enough to eat during the school day.

Originally the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” was established to decrease the amount of obese children in America. As of 2012 less than 20% of children in grades below 12 are considered obese, even with this statistic all students have to suffer from the limited lunch portions. 36% of high school students skip breakfast causing them to require more food at school but they can not get any more food because students are only allowed 850 calories per school lunch. The “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” is causing more kids to become too skinny instead of obese. An issue that I personally come across sometimes is not having time to eat breakfast before school, which causes me to be hungry and need more food to function completely, when this happens I usually only am able to get 4-5 chicken nuggets, sunflower seeds and a scoop of dry and crusty carrots at lunch. It has been researched and proved by multiple sources that hunger affects the ability to learn and I personally agree and dont think its possible to learn or function when surviving on a very very small lunch portion and no breakfast. During the spring I run track, Which causes me to get home 2 hours later at 5:30 sometimes 6. Since I get home later it requires me to have to wait longer before eating again, and I only get 4-5 chicken nuggets to last me all day. Until I get home and have dinner and then repeat the cycle the next day.

I feel as if students should not have a maximum amount of calories they can have and they should be allowed to limit themselves based on there own preference. If a student wants to be healthy they are going to do what they need to do to be healthy. Limiting the amount of food only causes students to starve and become skinny. I hope you take the time to look into this issue.

Thank you,

Grady C.

10

Saint Paul, Minnesota