Caroline Sewell ‘23
Courtesy of Kemi Odyemi ’20.
Over the summer, EA improved the campus in a host of projects, but the biggest one this school year has been the new and spacious kitchen/serving area and dining area in the cafeteria. Although this new cafeteria has just been completed now, it has been in the works for a long time.
Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Capuzzi explains that the original size of the cafeteria was a problem from the very beginning. “We knew the cafeteria was going to be too small. We didn’t have the money to pay for the campus they designed, so they kind of shrunk it in areas, to save some money. This included the cafeteria.” He continues that as the Middle and Upper schools expanded, the problem only worsened. “We ran out of seats. Kids didn’t have enough time to eat. It just wasn’t good all around.” Michael Wennemer ‘21 agrees with this opinion on the previous cafeteria, saying, “It was so packed in there that it was difficult to simply get and eat lunch.” For these reasons, EA decided to use the gift of an anonymous donor to pay for the cafeteria renovations.
However, they hit some road blocks. In April of 2018, T.J. Locke, Greville Haslam Head of School, sent an email to the EA community stating that “Due to current subcontractor market trends and material costs, the final pricing ended up being significantly higher than the value of the gift.” This stopped EA from combining both the SAGE all in dining service and the renovated cafeteria last year. In a 2017 interview with Scholium, Paul Sanders, Assistant Head of School, revealed that one of the main reasons the school was implementing an all-inclusive dining service was so that “[Students] can kind of spread out a little bit, nobody has to spend valuable time waiting in line.” Capuzzi reiterated this, saying, “When Sage came, they were limited in what they could do because they couldn’t put out all their offerings because they just didn’t have space for it. That’s what precipitated the project.”
However, the pairing of SAGE and the new cafeteria this year has fulfilled that mission.The new serving area features six serving counters inside the main food service area, including two different main meal options with a third serving of the same entree in a more spread out location, a pizza/pasta station, a salad bar, and a deli. Most of these stations are similar to last year but are more spread out due to the increased space from the renovation. There is also a second, more spacious salad bar and soup area in the main dining area of the cafeteria. To expand dining space, a new room was added to the back of the cafeteria and a large outdoor seating area is still being constructed.
Both students and faculty have expressed their enjoyment in the improvement in space, visual upgrades and food selection. Upper School history teacher Ellen Hay says, “I think it looks really attractive. I like the tiles and the blue and white. I also like the fact that it is a lot more spacious and you can have the same thing being served in different parts. It just really helps the flow.” Eesha Ampani ‘23 echoes these sentiments, saying, “I really like the new cafeteria, it’s super nice and super open and I like the layout of the serving area a lot more than last year. The food is a lot better and it is a lot more organized.”Although teachers and students are happy with the changes, some believe work still needs to be done. Upper School science teacher Jenn Jones says, “There are still a lot of people that all go at the same time but I would definitely say I am in and out faster than last year.” Wennemer agrees, saying, “The new cafeteria renovations were great but it’s still very crowded.”