For over 50 years the school’s cafeteria has served the student body and faculty with appetizing and delicious meals. At the end of last school year, the cafeteria was demolished to make way for a new student center which will include a cafeteria and an area where students can relax and work with each other

Betty White, Head of School, said “With this new student center, we are putting a huge emphasis on health and giving our students nutritious food. This student center will be four times bigger than our former cafeteria.”

The student center will be a place where students will be able to relax in a safe environment. It will have computer charging ports so that multiple students can charge their laptops at once and there will be space for doing homework and other assignments. The facility will also be spacious enough so that teachers can hold classes there.

The cafeteria in the student center will be for food services, but it will also have a garden where Hawaiian classes will plant vegetables. This garden will be located on the perimeters of the student center and will have a variety of vegetables which could possibly be used in the school menu.

The cafeteria will not only add healthier foods to its menu but also remove some starches and sugars, hoping that students will understand that a healthy diet leads to a healthy life.

In addition to a new student center and cafeteria, the school has installed a new debit card system for the cafeteria. Students add money to their school ID cards and purchase food and drinks without cash in had.

This system is better because it “is safer for the kids so that their money doesn’t get stolen; second, it is faster for the cashiers because they don’t need to count the cash returned,” said Brenda Takahashi, cafeteria manager.

Students who are using their debit cards agreed.

“It keeps the cafeteria more organized and helps all of us with the responsibility of our money,” sophomore Lydia McShane said.

This system also helps students monitor their expenses.

“People will be more conservative now because their amount of money is limited; they will have to be aware of their purchases,” sophomore Noelle Yee said.

The new student center will be completed in August 2012.

“In the student center we are definitely emphasizing sustainability. It will be very open, airy and bright, quite different from our previous cafeteria,” White said.