Poplar Bluff schools pave the way to academic excellence through lunch program

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (KBSI) – Proper nutrition and academic excellence go hand in hand.

District Executive Chef Kevin Merizalde of Poplar Bluff Chartwells made it his goal to provide a unique experience to students at Poplar Bluff schools. He shares how he’s doing that.

“Here you know we have to like to follow these guidelines and learning all these new nutritional aspects to the school. You know it makes you think, how I can bring all my experience into the cafeteria to the kids so that they can have almost the same foods that you have in restaurants,” said Merizalde. 

Chef Merizalde is making lunch time educational, fun, healthy and delicious through the many different program options they provide to students. He talks about a program called Mood Boost that encourages students to learn which foods fuel you.  

“Different types of food that affect their mood every day,” Merizalde said. “Be happy, be confident, be smart, and I believe that that’s an awesome program that helps them have knowledge about the different healthy and balanced meals that we serve here.” 

Another program Merizalde says he thinks the students will love is the Global Eats program. This program provides different types of foods from all around the world. From Caribbean to Chinese food, he shares how this program goes beyond the average lunch tray.

“The kids, you know, they don’t know what all these types of food are,” he said. “So here we introduce that to them, and they go tell their parents, ‘Oh I tried something new today.’ And you know now they have a different perspective on cuisine around the world.”

Aminah Williams is the student body president at Poplar Bluff High School. She says this program will be one of her favorites.

“Our Chinese Thursdays are my personal favorite,” said Williams. “And I know that a lot of people can agree with me on that and our bosco sticks those are really good. They serve those in our pizza line.”  

Merizalde says he uses a lot of student feedback when it comes to creating the school lunch menu and says he takes pride in knowing that students really enjoy what they are eating.

Williams says students definently approve.  

“I hear a lot of student opinions here and I’ve heard a lot of good things about our lunches especially this year,” said Williams.