Northwest High School - Vanguard Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 57 text:

W - e try to prepare a wide variety of foods, said Mrs. Roberta Smith, head dietitian. But if Mr. Smartz had his way, we would serve chili every day. Of the various foods offered in the cafeteria, chili, hamburgers, and hot dogs rated high in popularity. When ham- burgers were included on the menu, students consumed 2,218 of them. On days when fish and chips were served, 522 pounds of french fries were prepared. Cooks baked an average of 125 pies daily and proudly claimed that there were usually none left at the end of the day. Since school was converted to a nine period day, lunch was served only during periods four through seven. This made it harder on the cafeteria staff, ex- plained Mrs. Smith. Lunch lines were longer and there was less time for counters to be set up. Cafeteria personnel consisted of 34 cooks, a custo- dian who emptied trash, and a student employed to mop 63:6 the floor each evening. For each lunch period, two or three students were hired for 52.68 a week to stack trays. After establishing just how much food was prepared each day in the cafeteria, it was understandable why between 54,400 and 55,000 was spent monthly on food supplies. The cafeteria was operated on a totally non-profit basis. In 1971, the government organized a plate lunch program for students in need of financial aid. Students were given the opportunity to purchase meal tickets for 52.25. A choice of two set meals was then provided each day for a week. The government also continued the special student milk rate which was five and a half cents. For convenience, five cents was charged the first semester and six cents the next. Be- cause of President Richard Nixon's wage-price freeze that lasted until November, cafeteria food prices were temporarily prevented from rising. Students often wondered why the purchase of iced tea was restricted to members of the faculty. Lack of the proper ice facilities to serve 2,339 students kept tea from the students. The cafeteria also provided students with an ideal place for playing pranks on each other. Tripping fresh- men as they made their way to the lunch lines or slipp- ing a spoon or knife into an unsuspecting classmate's pocket were stunts that frequently occured. For a price, students purposely tripped with their lunch trays in hand, their efforts were always greeted with uproarious applause. The prank of the year was students returning their trays to clean-up all at the same time. 53

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oom IIB Diner laj Though table man- ners were sometimes lost during the hurried lunch hours, Terri Bush, junior, manages to eat her meal with grace, lbj A cook prepares a popular dessert role that was often on the cafeteria menu. lcj Lunch itself rarely took the entire 40-min- ute period, leaving time to refresh, as shown by junior Diane Corbin. ldj Don Coffey, junior, begins his meal with chocolate milk, one of several beverages of- fered on the menu. 1 gpg? ,rw . ' ti - f , . M, b C aww mmf worvfm' .ir , , I , EWLM. G 52 is 4' If f S -Weir, x:,2a.iie . . j sttj 'ff Aj M W Alt 4 V 2 - . A r V I A ,.,., V wr? ij r swam L A Yi -it A Xl v 'LI-few.. Maw... 48 ,GM . It jj W!! .. M are ,K il ' A . , M., , wx: no , tit' 7,7334 iw.

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iff. Sports s ectacles are relaxing... The Northwest school calender was dotted with dates on which large numbers of students congregated in the stadium or the gym for an athletic event. Aside from the game itself, other aspects of these activities were impor- tant to the high school community. As a part of the so- cial life, they provided students with a chance to escape the pressures of school. Two of the occasions, Home- coming and Little 500, featured the selection of a queen and a court, a custom in high school for many decades. The school also benefited by retaining the gate receipts. How important football or basketball games were so- cially depended a great deal on attendence, which, some felt depended on how well the teams were doing. 54 In recent years, attendence at football games was fain to poor, during the T971 season, in which the tearr gained a 2-8 record, many of the stadium benches were empty. Basketball, however, was a different story. Witl winning seasons and back-to-back sectional titles, the basketball team attracted near-capacity crowds for al. home games. Evidence of the varsity squad's drawingj power was seen at the Attucks game, when the stand. were filled and spectators stood at courtside to watcl the action, and the Ritter game, which was changed from the Ritter gym to the Northwest gym to accom odate the crowd. t After certain games, the school sponsored dances il the cafeteria for Northwest students. Admission varied according to whether there was live or recorded music as did the attendence. The first indoor dance of l97l was after the basketball game with Manual, with live. music by Stonewall, a Northwest band, the dance though it did not reap overshelming profits, was success