Hi, my name is Tyson Ottley and I am from Uintah Middle School in Vernal, Utah and I am 14. I put this up because I think that school lunch needs to be better. The following are reasons why school lunches aren’t the best and how they can improve. I don’t know what you can do about it, but I hope this shows you what we lack regarding food.

First off, I play basketball, and soccer, and am in plays, student council, and president of the creative writing club at Uintah Middle School. This requires energy and lots of it. Eatright.org says, “Active teenage boys need around 2,600 to 3,200 calories a day,” and my school averages about 488 calories at lunch. That’s only about 16% of what I need to fuel myself. Plus, due to messes, my school doesn’t allow snacks. By the time play practice rolls around, I am absolutely starving! Mrs. Michelle Obama made an act called “Let’s Move!” to reduce obesity, but schools took this too literally. Obesity has been reduced, but now we go hungry every day. The executive producer of “Let’s Move” Sam Kass says, “We don't dictate the food that schools serve – school districts do." So our district can do more to feed us. Also, My 9-year-old sister gets 3 French toast sticks. My 17-year-old sister gets 4. Yes, high schoolers get more, but only a little eat school lunches, and they don’t get extra. They have to eat the same amount. At my school, only 2 teachers eat school lunches regularly. Here is what one of those teachers says about the food: "I feel like our school’s food misses the mark.  It is bland and very repetitive.  I would love to see some new dishes that actually have some flavor.  More dishes that are cooked and prepared rather than unboxed and reheated.  I honestly get school lunch out of convenience and not because I like it. ” Not only do we need more food, the quality could be so much better. Everyone comments on bad school lunches. No, they aren’t bad, but they aren’t the best. I have a survey for people to fill out, and almost all the comments say the food is expired, and has been for a while. And half of them comment on the quality. Here is what some kids say, “I think it's fine most the time. Although I HATE the milk, it tastes like cardboard and sometimes is chunky.”, Shelby Shoopman “Most of the time I end up not eating half the food because Im forced to get the stuff I don't want. Also half the food we get every day looks like plastic.”, Jaxon Christenson “There is not enough I need like double the amount and every time I look at the chips bag or other bagged or packed snack there a year expired”, Tyson Watkins. So kids aren’t pleased. (I could give more, but I don’t need a page of quotes.) I think that a lot of the stuff is very bland due to the lack of seasoning. My mom tells us about the days when the cooks made everything from scratch, and the food was phenomenal. Nowadays, people claim that lunch ladies just microwave frozen food.

Thank you for hearing me out. Again, I don’t know if you can do anything about this cause, but if you could do something about it, it would help this community. I would love to help out in any steps that would need to be carried out to help this cause. Thank you!

Tyson Ottley, 8th grade, Uintah Middle School, Vernal, Utah.