Food and Fitness at Sequoia

BY MINOU ONO Staff Reporter

“The Physical Education (PE) teachers at Sequoia hope that students find something in PE that sparks their interest in healthy living, and something that when they’re much older, they can look back on and, and utilize it in their daily activities,” dance teacher Taylor White said.

There are many ways in which Sequoia tries to help improve its students’ physical health, including diets and physical movement. Sequoia uses the PE department and the lunch service to help students maintain a healthy lifestyle.

According to the California Department of Education, since the beginning of the pandemic, public schools throughout California have been providing free lunches to students. The state wants all students to have access to food at school regardless of income.

“For now, universal meals are available to all students in California regardless of income. There is a push for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to offer free meals to all students across the country. [...We want] students to want to eat a healthy, tasty meal that offers variety and flavor,” food service leader Starr said.

The school has to follow different nutrition requirements, both federally and statewide when preparing the menu.

“A hamburger for lunch must offer minimally two oz of protein and two oz of whole grain. In addition, to make it a reimbursable meal, a student must take at least one-half cup of fruit or vegetable and two types of milk are required to be offered but are not required to be taken,” Starr said.

A reimbursable meal means the school receives benefits for the food that they serve. Since Sequoia offers free lunches to every student, the school must have the finances to afford lunches.

“The menu is formulated at the central kitchen using nutrition-compliant software to ensure that all standards are met, and regulations followed,” Starr said.

Along with the nutritional requirements set by the government, the food service team also has to follow other rules and regulations both at the federal and state levels.

“All goods must comply with the Buy American Act, so if an item is not grown and produced in the United States, we cannot use it. [...] California has even more stringent rules; for example, eggs and egg products must be cage-free to be used in schools in California,” Starr said.

Starr also talked about how the change in prices affects what can be served at school. With the rising costs of eggs, the school cannot afford to provide eggs for lunch.

Along with food costs, the food service team also considers quality and flavor when deciding the menus.

“We search for the best quality meats, produce or manufactured products for our students that we can buy. [...] We love to hear what students like and what they would like to see on our menus,” Starr said.

Despite all their efforts to improve Sequoia meals’ quality and taste, students often have very different opinions on the food offered.

Of the 65 students surveyed, 43 percent said they do not eat school lunch. Students not eating lunch creates a struggle for the food service team.

“The more students that eat, the more federal funds we receive and the more we can offer students down the line,” Starr said.

If more students ate school-provided meals, the food service team would receive more funds and then would be able to improve the meals provided. In addition to varying opinions about the taste, some students think the school lunch needs to be healthier.

“Although the school does provide fruits and vegetables, they are not necessarily in the cleanest or best condition. [They need] more fresh vegetables, or fresher fruit on the side that does not look like it is rotting or going bad,” sophomore Emily Chan said.

More options would also benefit students with different dietary restrictions. Many Sequoia students are vegetarian or have other dietary restrictions, and the school lunch service could better meet their needs.

“I would provide more options for vegan and vegetarian salads, but

PE is the other way Sequoia aims to help students with physical health. Sequoia has two years of PE required for graduation, but the second year can be replaced by three seasons of a sport. Some students also opt to take dance classes and get PE credits that way.

A controversial aspect of PE is Physical Fitness Testing (PFT). The PFT is a statewide physical test conducted in grades five, seven and nine that is required by the state of California for all public schools.

According to the California Department of Education’s website, its purpose is to help students and parents assess their fitness levels, help teachers know their student’s weaknesses to design the curriculum and help monitor fitness level changes in students.

“It used to be if you did not pass the PFT, you had to take PE a second year even if you were taking a sport,” White said.

She explained that the PFT is now just used for data collection for the district and state. Because PFT used to be based on students’ Body Mass Index (BMI), some students would have to retake PE because of a higher BMI.

“I do not feel like the BMI test was a good indication of health and fitness. Kids were being held back because they had a higher BMI. I don’t think that test is a good measure of fitness levels,” White says.

Now, without the BMI aspect of the PFT, White supports having a test for students to measure their fitness levels.

“I think any sort of fitness testing is helpful, just like any quiz you take in class; it is to see how well you are doing,” White said.

The PFT also helps give students something to strive towards.

“The PFT is beneficial because it gives kids goals to aim for,” PE teacher Lauren Cornell said.

White added that she does not think students’ grades should be based on the PFT but on participation and engagement.

“As for basing a grade on fitness levels, I think that as teachers trying to instill lifelong fitness, we want to help them see that participation means more,” White said.

Some students also agree with this mentality and think that basing grades on participation encourages students to engage more.

One of the main focuses of the PE program is to get students to be physically active throughout their high school years and beyond. The PFT is also designed to help students with lifelong fitness.

“It promotes lifelong fitness because it touches on all those categories important to building that as you continue with your life,” Cornell said.

Both Cornell and White agree that it would be beneficial for students to take more than two years of PE, but it would be logistically tricky.

“It would be beneficial for their health. But there are so many classes these kids need to take for college that they cannot fit them all in,” White said.

Both teachers thought having more choices in PE classes would improve the PE department.They acknowledge that this is not possible, though, due to the state requiring specific primary PE curriculums that students would have to get through before being able to take electives.

“[With more class choices] you would get more kids that want to participate, and that would be willing to go and have fun and learn more,” Cornell said.