We’re all aware of the changes to lunch this year regarding the new schedule, COVID-19 regulations, and eating in our classrooms. I interviewed Ms. Elise Elhrich, one of the managers of SAGE this year, to find out exactly what it takes to coordinate SAGE dining for about 1400 students this year. All of the chefs and managers arrive at Newman at 6 AM to begin preparing the food. By 12 PM, every meal is plated, sorted, and ready to be sent out to the 87 different classrooms receiving lunch by the Isi-DoorDash team. Every month when the google forms arrive, Ms. Elhrich organizes the forms by advisory and orders all of the food necessary for every hot meal, vegetarian meal, salad, sandwich, snack, etc. When you think about all of those numbers, Ms. Ehrlich and Ms. Wolfharth truly have pulled off an incredible feat. As stated by Ms. Ehrlich, it shows that “anything is possible”, from attempting to organize this whole system in June and July, to actually pulling it off by August 20th. I think we can all agree with Ms. Ehrlich that “this keeps all of us safe and it keeps everybody on campus” which is the most important thing. When asked about reverting the dining hall back to its normal operation, Ms. Elhrich said “it’s going to be a process” but “I think we all miss the dining hall.” On the bright side, some of the younger students like this new system better and think of it as “room service.” All in all, it is important to remember the sacrifices the SAGE team has made this year to allow us to come back to school in person and to facilitate as normal a year as possible. So if you see any of our SAGE chefs around, please thank them for all of their incredible hard work!

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