CAL welcomes new, conversation-friendly lunchroom furniture

Lunchtime at CAL feels less like school and more like a restaurant thanks to some new furniture.

Earlier this year, high top, circular and four seat square tables took the place of the traditional school lunch tables in the CAL cafeteria. CAL Principal Abby Meyer said the new furniture gives the lunchroom a more casual, friendly atmosphere but also cuts down on noise because of the proximity of the students to one another with the new seats.

“We’re just really giving kids more options and trying to make it a little more family style than the institutional, big lunchroom tables," she said. “It’s cut down on the noise because we aren’t screaming down the table to get someone’s attention.”

Meyer said the new ar-rangement has brought an unseen level of enthusiasm in the students towards lunch. She said the excitement spiked the day the furniture arrived at the school and breakfast and lunch remain even more highly anticipated than before. She said it also gives students a chance to experience a more intimate setting for meals, as some may not have that opportunity outside of school.

“A lot of our kids maybe aren’t used to sitting down at a table of five or six people and having a meal and that really promotes that kind of atmosphere and that’s some-thing I really wanted to hap-pen,” she said. ”I wanted to give our kids that experience of sitting down with a small group of people and having a meal together."

Meyer said that with the different styles of tables and chairs comes some regulation to make sure all students have a chance to sit at the high top tables or the booths regularly. She said at first, grades rotat-ed through the booths but now, she said students allow one another to sit at the vari-ous tables when its their turn.

Additionally, Meyer said the school has implemented the Cadet of the Month pro-gram, which is given to a student from each grade every month. She said it was the students’ idea to dedicate a seat at one of the high top tables to that month’s stu-dents.

“That really makes them feel important and it’s just another little thing to acknowledge the hard work they’ve been doing,” she said.

Aside from lunch, Meyer said the newly renovated cafe-teria and the seats can be used as a multipurpose room. The school also recently complet-ed a commons area outside of the lunchroom where students can study or participate in activities during free time. Meyer said the rejuvenated spaces and added touches give students a sense of ownership and freedom at the school.

“It’s really motivating for kids to get out of the tradi-tional classroom,” she said. “It’s taking today’s learn-er…and trying to understand that these kids need different spaces to work. It helps their creativity, it helps foster the problem solving, the group work that is such a huge part of what employers are looking for so it really does those kind of things.”