As a community, Wilsonville is associated with wealth, our school exemplifying that; our science labs have plenty of equipment we often don’t need, our varsity boys’ basketball team can afford to travel out-of-state for prestigious tournaments, our students can take a litany of AP, dual credit, and career-technical courses, and two years ago, we built a performance center costing multiple millions of dollars for our celebrated theater program.

However, some will always have less than others in any society. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 30 percent of our students are eligible to receive free or reduced price lunch under federal law, having family incomes lower than 185 percent of the poverty line, $30,000 for a family.

We have something even more broad for our student body, under Oregon’s Community Eligibility Provision, our school provides free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of financial status, as we have more than 25 percent of our population eligible for free lunch. 

Despite how our students sometimes act, we generally agree that being hungry is bad and approve of free meals. Senior Dena Kaufman says that “everyone should have food available to them whenever they need it,” and that “costs shouldn’t be a barrier,” agreeing that “even if you can afford it, it shouldn’t be a reason not to provide.” Kaufman also says that “options should be available” for students who are still hungry after eating breakfast and lunch, being able to get meals after school if they want, for instance.

When it comes to the food served, Wilsonville students do not lack options, with items including chicken nuggets and tater tots, mac and cheese bowls, chicken corn dogs, Domino’s pizza, yogurt, sandwiches, breadsticks, and assorted fruits, vegetables, dairy, and condiments. If that seems like a lot of meat, don’t worry, vegetarian options are available for those who want them, such as potato nuggets, plant-based burgers, and hummus. 

According to stereotypes and memes, American school lunches are bland, undercooked, unsanitary, and the portions are too small, some suggesting it would be better to go hungry. It appears that our school’s food is better, as even though junior Devin Morales says, “Occasionally it’s not too good,” it was “definitely” better than what he had at other schools, and “fine quality,” so that not only are students getting access to food, they are getting decent meals as well.

Morales also agrees that lunch should be free, as even students with money can struggle with the “hefty” bill that accrues over the school year for people who are not good at managing their accounts, making it one less thing to worry about.

This reporter can’t seem to understand why school meals cost money for the students, while most of the other things at the school are paid for, students of lower financial status are for the most part not restricted in their academic and extracurricular options here, with anything that does cost money, such as clubs or attending sporting events, being optional. Meals are definitely not optional in life, so students of all backgrounds should never have to worry about going hungry or spending money.