On Jan. 24, 26 and 28, a student committee surveyed students who eat school lunch to get suggestions for healthy additional food items with a goal of providing greater nutrition at the school.

The school’s Student Nutrition Committee promotes fresh fruits and vegetables and is in charge of helping organize the school’s annual Food and Fitness Fair, which is scheduled for March 8. “We surveyed students in the cafeteria about food selection. We created the surveys to get a sense of how students feel about the present cafeteria options, but more importantly, to solicit suggestions for new food,” committee member junior Olivia Pollak, who is also a reporter for The Lowell, said. “We asked students in the lunch line and at the cafeteria tables.”

One of the questions on the survey asked the student to identify their favorite food at the cafeteria and beanery. “Some of the favorite lunches in the cafeteria were pasta, sandwiches, burgers, salads and garlic bread. In the beanery, it was sandwiches too, but many gave no response,” Student Nutrition Committee sponsor and school nurse Maryann Rainey said.

The survey also checked student views on other aspects of the cafeteria. The point-of-sale (POS) lunch cards, which work like debit cards, received positive feedback. When used, each card deducts that day’s purchase from the total amount of money deposited on the card. “Most students liked the new card — it made things faster,” Rainey said. “They liked that they could memorize the number and one student said, ‘It makes me feel important to have a card.’”

Out of the 57 who responded to the survey question ‘Do you know how to report to the cafeteria manager when there is a problem with the food?’, 51 did not know they can report problems to cafeteria manager Elaine Choi, according to Rainey. To address this problem, the committee posted a sign on the kitchen door outside of the lunch line informing students how to contact Choi or Student Nutrition Services Assistant Director Zetta Reicker.

The Student Nutrition Committee has conducted surveys in the past — the most recent one which also ascertained student views on the menu occurred two years ago — but the previous surveys were distributed in registry. “We decided to survey students in the cafeteria because we thought that if we personally asked them the questions, they would be more inclined to give thoughtful answers,” Pollak said. “Surveying in the cafeteria ... seemed like a good idea because food would be on students’ minds.”

A version of this article first appeared in the Feb. 25, 2011 print edition of The Lowell.