Penn Points Online

By Sarah Sanchez

Have you walked into the lunch room and noticed a difference? Yes, small drinks such as, lemonade, tea and even small waters are gone. Students might have also noticed that desserts are officially missing from the main lunch and many other changes have been made.

“Lunch changes are due to the sugar content,” Mrs. Sherlyn Wolf, cafeteria manager, said.

According to Mrs. Wolf, Penn Manor is only able to serve students and staff a certain amount of starches and sugars, and serving sizes are important. Government regulations determine how many fruits and vegetables and which kinds of fruits and vegetables to serve since Penn Manor is included in the National School Lunch Program. The National School Lunch Program is a federal program that provides low cost or free lunches to students who need help paying for meals.

There’s just one question. Whatever happened to the small waters that came with lunch last year? They don’t have sugar or starches, so why are they gone?

Mr. Randy Wolfgang, director of support services, explained that federal regulation will not allow any substance to substitute for milk, not even water.

“Students are not required to get a milk, though they are required to get a fruit or vegetable,” said Mr. Wolfgang.

Other school districts are also involved in the healthy food kick. Jeanne Kandra, director of food services for Manheim Township, told Lancaster Online, “We continue to serve more and more local fruits and vegetables when in season.”

A new addition to the new lunch changes that Wolfgang brought to attention was that last year there was only 50 percent whole grain in lunches, but this year it’s 100 percent whole grain. If you have not noticed, even chicken nuggets and meats are now whole grain.

Next year school will be required to have sodium reduced. The cafeteria will be required to serve more fruits and vegetables, and meat will be optional since most of the lunch’s calories come from the meat that is served. These changes will also affect breakfast according to Wolfgang.

Lunch changes are also market driven or due to student preferences. For example, last year clam chowder soup was not a huge hit, so this year you may notice that clam chowder with not be around as often.

“Last year I loved being able to get a small water that I didn’t have to pay extra for. I hate that I have to pay extra for a big drink and I hate milk,” said Penn Manor senior Sierra Bland. “I also never eat the fruit. I just give it to someone else.”

Lunch changes are also to make lunches that are sold more healthy. You can choose to get your sweets, but they will no longer come with main lunches.

By Cassie Kreider

There was a banana in school on Friday September, 13. No, not a real banana; those can be found in the cafeteria. This banana was all flesh and bone under its felt fabric.

At an assembly, it was explained to students that depression doesn’t always stick out like someone in a banana suit does. The person in the banana was a high school student from Cocalico, where the movement called Aevidum, first started.

Ms. Maria Vita, psychology teacher, and Mrs. Kimberly Marsh, a counselor at Penn Manor High School, were approached by the former superintendent of the school, Mr. Don Stewart, about potentially starting a branch of Aevidum at Penn Manor High School.

Vita hopes that starting Aevidum here will “encourage students and faculty to practice behaviors that promote their well-being; no one in this school should feel alone in their struggle or sadness. We recognize that this life can bring trauma and difficulties, and we want a platform where it is acceptable to talk about these heavy ideas (depression, stress, body-image, etc,).

“As a psychology teacher Aevidum appealed to me because there are a growing number of empirical or scientific studies that support positive psychology,” said Vita.

Aevidum, which is a made up word, gets its meaning from its Latin root “vid”, meaning life. According to the Aevidum website, Aevidum in schools means, “a culture of care,” an “I’ve got your back” philosophy that transforms elementary, middle and high schools.

Aevidum was started by English teacher and now Executive Director of Aevidum, Joe Volupas, at Cocalico High School after one of his students, Kyle, took his own life. Kyle’s younger sister, Emily, spoke about her brother’s suicide for the first time here at Penn Manor.

Among the things Volupas called for were musicians, skaters, artists and athletes to help spread the word of Aevidum as far as possible, with songs written about friendship, skateboards with the Aevidum logo on the bottom, posters promoting Aevidum and videos showcasing what Aevidum is all about.

Aevidum is an “empowerment movement that is creating a culture of care where every single person matters.” People need to believe in the voices of youth, said Volupas.

Volupas went on to say that, “suicide is almost 100 percent preventable.” It’s everyone’s job to get their friends to a counselor, a teacher or to someone who can and will do something to help that friend out.

Olivia Bailey, a senior at Penn Manor High School, said she joined Aevidum because, “I have a couple of friends who have gone through really hard times and I loved the whole idea of the club and how it tries to promote a positive atmosphere throughout the entire school.

Because Aevidum hasn’t officially started at the high school yet,  a few students have been working to get students to pledge Aevidum, which means pledging to help a student in need.

Bailey said that so far, about a hundred students have signed up. Aevidum will most likely split up between the club days so that certain students come on different days.

For more information, there is an official website for Aevidum, http://aevidum.org/. Vita has also started her own wikispaces page for Penn Manor’s branch of Aevidum, http://pmaevidum.wikispaces.com/.

Aevidum will meet Tuesdays in room 316.  More information concerning sign-up and meeting times and places will be available in the cafeteria during club sign ups.