The Covered Eating Area (CEA) is a gathering place for student life before and during school. People constantly stream in and out buying lunches, using the bathrooms or socializing at the tables. Through all the chaos, it is easy to forget who helps the entire food system to run smoothly—the student workers.
davis bason-mitchell
How working in the CEA has affected his life
"I'm a person who tries to talk to anybody and I try to do that to the best of my ability. [Working in the CEA] really helps with that, just due to the fact that [the CEA] is just always go go go go go. And it's really nice because I can put that into other aspects of my life and it helps me. It’ll help me in my government class or at my church. My skills from the CEA help me socially stay aware and help me to multitask really well. This is something that, with attention deficit disorder, I've always had a little bit of a hard time with that. [Working in the CEA] just keeps you alert and aware."
carl valdes
The most annoying thing about working the snack line
"We don't serve bagels at break. We don't have any until lunch. The kids will come to us, and they will demand the bagels. Like we're hiding [bagels] from them. We had to put up a sign saying 'no bagels'. It says it on the menu, but no one reads the menu. So [students] always come up to us and ask 'Can I get a bagel?' Sorry, no, it's not lunch. Then they'll lean in the window and look around behind us like 'Are you sure?' and I'm like, 'What do you mean? What do I have to gain from not selling you a bagel?"
isabelle valdes
Her favorite part about working in the CEA
“[The CEA] is just a place to be, honestly. A lot of the time, if one of my friends is sick I always remember that at least I'm going to the CEA for a break so I don't have to worry about walking around alone. It's also kind of a bit of an excuse. So like in the morning it's like, ‘Yeah, I don't have to be meeting teachers any morning because I'm always working.’"
spencer mcconnell
Reflections on regulars
"A positive part of working in the CEA is you actually can become very close to the people who you serve food to. I’ve noticed that when you have a ‘regular,’ which is kind of strange to call them that because it's not a real restaurant, but when you have a regular and you know what they want, they seem a lot more happy. Like for example, there's this one person who will come to my line and he’ll get the Asian bowl and a water every single time and I'll always get him the Asian bowl and the water before he even has to ask. He's always so grateful because everyone wants to get out of there as fast as they can; who wants to stand in a line for all of lunch? So having that connection with a person and being able to give them what they want before they have to ask for it, it cuts down time for me and I think it would make their day a little bit better."