From The Plate to the Heart

SCC’s food drought continues into fall quarter.

From+The+Plate+to+the+Heart

Hannah Stabler, Staff Writer

Researchers at the University of Oxford have found that people who share meals with companions throughout their week are more likely to feel happier in their daily lives than those who do not or rarely share a meal. Communal meals have been bringing people together for millenia. Since the beginning of time, groups of people have been gathering around a table to exchange knowledge, share a laugh, and reconnect after a long day. Current media such as movies and television shows usually find a way to reconnect their characters over a table, whether it’s the main character finally talking to her middle school crush in the cafeteria or a newly married couple visiting their childhood home for christmas dinner. Food brings us together, so why is it that SCC students are struggling to find that link between one another after three years of Covid-19 related interruptions? Well the answer may be found in the place not many have thought to look— the cafeteria.

Covid-19 put a pause on all school-related activities and returning to the way everyone was running before the pandemic is proving to be a slow process. Administration created temporary solutions to replace the issue of face-to-face contact that was so prevalent with the virus. SCC’s cafeteria was decommissioned, effectively replaced by shelves of candy bars and soda on the adjacent wall— all run by a self checkout booth tucked away in the corner. This may have created a solution for hunger, but what about the hunger for connection? First year SCC student Coral Prier says “It really just disappoints me with Covid, seeing these things just not kicking back up, so you can’t really get together with people anymore. I’m having a hard time meeting people on campus”.

With the closure of the school cafeteria, the student body has moved to other forms of getting to know one another, such as speed-friending events in communal areas of the school, but people seem to be still having a hard time making connections on campus.

When asked about reopening the cafeteria, Vice President of Business and Administration, Bob Williamson, said “President Jack Kahn is assembling a task force, including students, faculty, and staff, to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to bring expanded coffee and food options to the campus. Stay tuned for more information from the president’s office.”

With any luck, the progress promised by the administration will nourish us sooner than later.