With the efficiency that comes on the last day of May after spending almost a whole school year doing it, Memorial Park School third and fourth graders slid their trays through the lunch line and took their seats in the cafeteria.
Wolfing down hotdogs or their lunches brought from home, the Waterville elementary youngsters chattered away while chewing. But then, as big people began to sit among them, the students quieted and slowed their eating.
Adults took empty seats near the kids to eat a similar lunch of New York all beef hotdog, wheat bun, New York cheddar and apple salad, fruit and Chobani yogurt, plus milk. Guests included New York state Agriculture and Market Commissioner Richard Ball, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Oneida County Dairy Princess Kathleen Gallagher and court members Molly Williams and Abigail Wratten, Oneida County Legislator Colin Idzi, Mary Beth McEwen, director of Oneida County’s Cornell Cooperative Extension and WCS Superintendent Chuck Chafee.
They and several people from Cooperative Extension, and Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES plus representatives of local state lawmakers had lunch at MPS on New York Foods Day. As the leading school in the area on bringing local foods into schools, Waterville was selected as the place to showcase the progress made around the region.
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