Your stomach growls with hunger as you enter the cafeteria and wait in line for your food. Once your turn comes, you tell the lunch server what you want, and keep shuffling through the line. Finally, you pay for your food and sit down to eat. Students at West go through this routine everyday without giving it a second thought, but know nothing about the people who they see during this process; so, the West Side Story decided to go behind the scenes and get to know the people preparing and giving you fuel for the day.

At first glance inside the food serving area and kitchen before and after lunch, it looks extremely busy, with the workers moving quickly to put stuff away, organizing, cleaning, and cooking. “A lot of people don’t realize that we cook everything over here– even the cookies.” said Traci Kimzey, a kitchen worker.

Julie Peterson, the kitchen manager, has been working at West for 15 years. What most people don’t know about her is that she is sensitive and a really good swimmer. She also loves to make people happy. “The students are really nice and appreciative of what we do and don’t give us any flack, and we’d like to thank them for being awesome like that.”

In the morning what they will be doing for the day is posted and their jobs vary from setup, express, salad making, register, food service assistant and more. Who gets these jobs also can change a bit everyday. When asked about the best part of her job, Lesly Crespo said with a laugh, “The winter and summer breaks we get off.” What students wouldn’t relate with that?