Every day at 11:35 a.m., a swarm of students gather around the crosswalk between Town & Country and Palo Alto High School for lunch.
However, many of the stores available for lunch are expensive, and the long lines are sometimes just not worth it.
There must be another alternative — somewhere you can go on campus to get food and not have to pay so much for that Teriyaki rice bowl many students keep buying.
The Student Center is just that — it has cheap food for students during brunch and lunch.
However, a majority of students do not know very much about it. People might know that it exists, but do they know what food they serve or how much it costs?
The Student Center food programs for brunch and lunch should be publicized, even advertised prominently, since it is a great alternative to Town & Country.
When I typed “Student Center food programs” into paly.net, I was surprised to find no search results.
I only noticed there was food in the Student Center when students came out of the building during brunch drinking milk and munching on snacks.
It is a school resource available to all students, and yet sometimes it seems like not that many people know about it.
However, some students, including junior Juan Brandi, often visit the Student Center during brunch.
Brandi usually goes to the Student Center for cookies but hasn’t gone in a while, because sometimes they can be unpredictable on what they are selling.
Although there are options for setting up accounts to pay for food, such as cash or inputting student ID. Brandi said he usually uses cash because it seems to be easier.
“As far as I know, they serve everything from baked goods to packed snacks and juices,” Brandi said.
There are many ways to advertise the Student Center’s resources. For example, administration can put posters or flyers in teachers’ classrooms for the food schedule or general information about the student center where students can see them.
Additionally, making the daily lunch menu accessible and visible to students from the posters would keep them in the loop about what is offered for lunch each day of the week. Other ways to make the food program more publicized include posting information on the Paly website, broadcasting the food agenda for the week on InFocus, or having announcements on Schoology to let people know about what they serve and how much.
If students knew basic information about the Student Center’s food offerings, they might give it a try.
Town & Country offers a lot of great options for high schoolers hungry for lunch.
However, it presents problems as well, because the food is often expensive and the lines can be quite long.
You have to race over to the place you want to eat, making sure to get there early to avoid the long lines, scarf down your meal, and run back to campus all in just 35 minutes, or risk being late to class.
The Student Center, however, is a great alternative to this, is easily accessible and does not cause any of the stresses listed above.
The only difficulty is making sure people know about it and are aware of its benefits.
