First opening in November, Earth’s Bounty is a newly established cafeteria diner that got the attention of many of our Colonia High School’s students and staff.

If there’s one thing that students of Colonia High School complain of on more than one occasion, is the food in the Cafeteria. No doubt that most understand the hard work it takes to work in the kitchen, but there are standards and limits to these types of necessities. At first, when students were demonstrated “healthy” snacks in the vending machines, students were outraged by the dramatic change, but Earth’s Bounty took something healthy and made it amazingly tasteful.  

What started out as a simple idea, progressed into a very well maintained section of our cafeteria that provided specially made sandwiches, salads, and soup, with many other options to come. But what makes these meals so special exactly? Well, it is made straight from our garden provided by the interact club in the greenhouse and local programs. Earth’s Bounty strictly focuses on nourishing self-grown foods and biodegradable plate wear. Completely healthy, completely Earth friendly, and completely delicious.

“It was an idea that developed between me and Christa Peterson who’s our dietician in the district. It started out as us talking about doing a farmers market.This was a dead area, it wasn’t used at all, over the period of summer, it turned into an area where we can serve all local, all fresh produce, nothing processed, all clean food, sustainable, biodegradable plate wear, and it took off from there. It was a true collaborative effort between me and my staff,” Director and Residential District Manager of Chartwell, Sean Walsh excitedly stated.

With the help of many, as Mr. Walsh clarified, what was once a storage room turned into an opportunity. Directors, Managers, Chefs, painters, and CHS’s administrations and even interact club members along with much more, collaborated to this historic day that will change many students lives, day by day, lunch by lunch. “We have had weekly meetings leading up to this. Just throwing ideas. What’s going to work, how it’s going to work because it’s not only just the idea how it’s going to work operationally, how can they execute it from a chef’s standpoint, cooking and displaying, so it was a group effort,” Walsh stated once again.

Peterson and her partners started this idea back in August, and they plan to keep Earth’s Bounty alive for as long as they can. A dead area was cleaned up and used for something far more useful than a school economy could ever hope for. By using seasonal items, Earth’s Bounty will cycle each week with new options to what the students like. Only beginning in CHS, Earth’s Bounty will be on every Monday through Friday except Wednesdays, which is left for Chef’s table. As Patterson stated, “Everything is Fresh, local, no antibiotics, no hormones, and as close to the Earth as we possibly could.” So come and take advantage of a changing CHS for the better.