This article was written by a student in Intro to Mass Communications, the class that precedes The Cardinal Times.

Due to the federal school nutrition program that came in response to COVID-19, PPS has introduced a new free lunch policy. Many students are trying and enjoying these school-provided meals.

This policy was introduced to help people struggling from the economic impacts of Covid-19. According to PPS, the unpredictability of how the pandemic would affect any given family was so great that having to pre-register for meal benefits was deemed insufficient for this year. 

Since lunch for all students is now free, students no longer need an ID card or number to receive a free lunch. The new system is that a person simply walks through the line and picks up food. In previous years, school lunches cost $3.75, which prevented many people from eating them regularly or even trying them. There are many places to eat around Lincoln for approximately this price range, such as McDonald’s, Kinara Thai, and many convenience stores. Now that students are giving the school lunches a chance, they are liking it a lot, and the popularity of the meals is skyrocketing.

Melanie Hammericksen, the culinary arts teacher, said that more students are eating school lunch this year.

 “My job has changed quite a bit,” said Hammericksen. “Because obviously, I have been feeding four times the kids I was feeding the last time we were in this space.”

Senior Josh Litchfield eats lunch by bringing food from home, going to stores near Lincoln, and eating in the cafeteria. “The lines are a bit longer,” said Litchfield. “But the food is the same from previous years, and it is nice to have another option for lunch.”