Congratulations to Chris Welch for receiving the Mohawk Valley Teen All Star Award!

Summer Gleba-Hoyt and Will Wuest along with their instructor and a few other students from local schools placed second at a pro-start convention in New Rochelle, NY. They competed against other culinary programs throughout the state and were the first junior class to ever compete. Congratulations!

After exploring several ideas in an effort to provide breakfast meals at the high school we have installed a vending machine to solve two key issues; to serve students a healthy and USDA compliant breakfast in a shortened time period and do it without involving the added expenses of extra staff and equipment of a traditional serving line.

The vending machine interfaces with our NutriKids Point-of-sale (POS) system the same way the registers do in the traditional serving lines. Cashless vending machines allow the student to enter a PIN to make their selection. This is important because it allows all the benefits of going through the lunch line and using their lunch accounts for the purchase. Furthermore, and most importantly, if a student is free or reduced, they will be able to enjoy their benefits at the vending machine as well. FREE AND REDUCED MEAL BENEFITS ARE IN EFFECT THROUGH THE MACHINE FROM THE HOURS OF 7:00AM – 10:35AM ONLY. ANY PURCHASES MADE OUTSIDE OF THESE HOURS WILL BE TREATED AS ALA CARTE AND ACCOUNTS WILL BE CHARGED THE NORMAL SELLING PRICE.   As always with free and reduced accounts, the first meal is free or reduced and any other purchases would be charged to their account accordingly. Charging to a negative balance will not be allowed at the machine. If you have a negative balance the vending machine will not allow the purchase.

Hunger leads to distraction during learning times. Offering breakfast items in the vending machine will give hungry kids the opportunity to eat before class starts and in turn be more focused on classwork without being distracted by a growling stomach.

The Food service team is excited about this new endeavor and confident that we can obtain our goal of feeding more kids and giving them the fuel they need to start the day.  In the process, we hope to serve as a model for other schools in the region experiencing the same sort of struggles with regards to offering a breakfast program. For more information about the vending machine please refer to their site - http://www.starfoodhealthyexpress.com/

Freshman Seminar is a year-long course designed to help  incoming freshmen manage the academic rigor and social issues of high school.  This course covers various study skills, note-taking, test-preparation, research procedures, and reading and writing strategies. Students learn and practice organizational skills that they can apply to all their classes, as well as life experiences.

Freshman Seminar also addresses social issues that affect freshmen as they begin to explore high school and post-secondary planning. Freshman Seminar is designed to help students during their transition to high school – its academic and personal demands – and help ensure their educational success.