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Host: Welcome to Mondays with Maria, brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools.
Host: Here's OCPS Superintendent, Dr. Maria Vazquez.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hello this week we are on the road and our travels have taken us to Westbrook Elementary and I have Jamie Holmes here with us.
Jamie Holmes: Hello
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Uh and Jamie, we we're celebrating national school lunch week and our schools do an incredible job of incorporating activities, fun activities into this week
Jamie Holmes: That it's, it's a great, I love it. It's such a terrific event and I'm honored to be here because, you know, I like to eat.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes.
Jamie Holmes: So I did a little bit of research on the Google and National School Lunch Week started back in 1962 through J F K.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Ooh, I didn't know that.
Jamie Holmes: Yeah. So, and it's all to promote healthy lunches, which is what you guys do on a daily basis.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Last year in Orange County Public Schools, we served 35 million meals.
Jamie Holmes: Wow.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yeah. Isn't that just incredible? And this year, all of our students at every one of our schools eat all meals at no charge. That is life changing.
Jamie Holmes: It is remarkable. That's extraordinary.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes, it is.
Jamie Holmes: So I was at Oak Ridge last year. I got to see kind of the hub of these operations, and it is, it's like a city. It's amazing. And the fried chicken was fantastic, but all of the operations that are going on here. Incredible.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Yes. Our, our schools really do a phenomenal job in feeding all of our students. And here at Westbrook, they have an amazing food service manager. His name is Mr. Jim. And I had an opportunity to ask him some questions. What does he love about Westbrook and food service?
Mr. Jim: What I like about Westbrook is Westbrook works as a team from Mr. Reyes all the way down to the custodians. And my team, I'm very proud of them. Every day they come in, we're making a difference in the children's life. They might come in in the morning and they might be unhappy, they had a bad night, but we try to put a smile on their face. They're ready for the teacher their attention span is great and they score great on tests and Westbrook's an "A" school. We're proud of that.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Oh my gosh. It just touches my heart to hear how dedicated you are and how focused you are in making sure our children thrive.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: You do have an amazing team and they do a lot of fun, activities. Can you tell us a little bit about what those are?
Mr. Jim: Yeah. I'm a big kid myself, so I I might be old, but guess what? I'm still a kid. I like to have fun with the kids. We have the games that we play. As you see, I'm bald and I put a wig on for the kids. The kids come in, they're laughing. Mr. Jim and I have a joke with them that it's my twin brother and he has hair and he is gone for the day. But we play games to try to encourage the kids to come in and have fun with us. We just try to make it fun for the students because let's face it, life isn't always easy. We have challenges and we just try to make it a better day for them.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: What an incredible outlook. So tell us, what do you want people to know about working for Orange County Public Schools in the food and nutrition team?
Mr. Jim: What I think people should know about working for Orange County Public Schools is, first of all, it's a great district. Orange County, they have high goals, high standards, and we try to meet them every single day here at Westbrook. As far as like a personal level, if you really want something that's more gratifying and self-fulfilling, work with the kids because you're making a difference and years down the road, you'll run into that student that walks up to you and say, Hey, Mr. Jim, you know, do you remember me? Both schools, but close to like 600 students at each school. So I come in contact with probably at least 800 kids a day, and I truly love it.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Wow. Thank you for all that you are doing for the students here at Westbrook and the incredible job your team does. Okay. So I think I'm ready to try this.
Mr. Jim: There you go. Alright, let's go.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Let's go.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Wait a second. We have to charge you.
Jamie Holmes: I forgot my wallet.
Jamie Holmes: Uh I think I can help you out this time.
Jamie Holmes: There's Goldfish
Dr. Maria Vazquez: Hey, that's your favorite. I'm sure. This was so much fun, and I'm so excited to have lunch with these amazing students at Westbrook.
Jaime Holmes: Who wants food in every Mondays with Maria?
Dr. Maria Vazquez: All right, I'll work on that.
Jamie Holmes: Hold on, I’ve got to take this.
Dr. Maria Vazquez: I hope everyone enjoys National School Lunch Week, and I will see you next week on Mondays with Maria.
Students: Yay.
Host: Mondays with Maria has been brought to you by the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. Investing in our children today to strengthen our community tomorrow. For more OCPS news and information, visit theslice.ocps.net.