Monday, March 31st, Wayland’s Food Service Department launched their after school food pickup program. The new program allows students to pre-order their meals in the morning at the snack bar or the kitchen and pick up their meals at the end of the school day.

The options for an after school snack include the choice of a hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken patty, spicy chicken patty or veggie burger with a bag of chips and a water bottle for $3. Students have the choice to get the meal or just a sandwich alone.

Before the launch of the after school food program, students only had the option of getting food from two vending machines, one for snacks and one for water.

“There has been a lot of feedback that we’ve received about kids who are at school until five in the afternoon because of sports or other activities. Seeing the number of kids out in the cafeteria after school, I just thought that it might be a good idea to give it a try,” Cheryl Judd, the director of the food service department, said.

Currently, the after school food pickup program is being run as a pilot. The food department is planning to expand it in the future.

“We’ve sent a notice out to the kids, as well as the athletic director and the principal. They liked the idea, so we went ahead and we’re doing this on a trial basis. If this takes off and I have 50 kids buying [food], then I’ll introduce new staffing for the coming year to keep it going,” Judd said.