“If my five-year-old daughter can do it, then high schoolers can too,” Principal Pat Tutwiler laughs. He was referring to Nutrikids, the new lunch program installed at the high school.

In this system new to WHS, students have a six-digit code they punch into a keypad. If they have money in their account, they will get their lunch and go. The system is more efficient than using cash, is expected to speed up lines, and is safer because students no longer have to carry cash around.

Tutwiler says, “This is the 21st century, and the way we have been conducting business in the kitchen this year and in previous years has been very antiquated. It was inefficient in many ways — time inefficient, in terms of keeping track of what types of foods and how much. It was hard to know what was best, what the students’ likes and dislikes are.”

Another benefit? Nutrikids is entirely confidential, reducing any stigma students might feel about receiving free or reduced lunches.
The Nutrikids system is not the first of its kind. Most colleges have swipe cards or codes to type into a keypad. As Tutwiler says, “It’s not a new system, it is tried and tested.”

Sophomore JoAnna Hermanns says of the new protocol, “I think that this lunch system is really helpful because I can use pre-pay in all of the lunch lines.”

However, not all students are as pleased with the Nutrikids system. Sophomore Caleb Greenwalt says, “I don’t like it [Nutrikids]. It’s aggravating, and I can never remember my pin code.” An anonymous junior says, “Usually I bring lunch, but today I bought. Even though I know my code, it still took a long time.”

When asked why the switch was made so suddenly, Tutwiler answers, “I think it’s the right thing to do and it’s the right time to do it.
College food services work a lot like this. Ultimately, the biggest benefactor will be you, will be the students. I think they will see an improvement in service quality. They will see quicker lines, they will see the foods they like more often, and foods they don’t like less often or not at all.”

A lunch lady who requested her name be withheld confirms that the lines will be quicker. It will also be easier for the food services to keep track of the foods, and it will “help in the long run.”

Tutwiler reiterates, “This is another step toward how things are run in the 21st century. Right now I think we are in a good place.”