Healthy Lunch, Healthy Lives

Pacific High School (PHS) has a unique school lunch program, in which fresh, nutritious, homemade lunches are prepared and served by students. Our goal is to alleviate poverty in Southeast Alaska by developing and documenting this lunch program into a replicable model that includes farm-to-school and summer food service / student employment programs. High school students are powerful connectors between schools, families, and communities. By providing healthy, homemade food to students, they learn to enjoy it, and bring that enjoyment back to their families. By teaching students to grow nutritious food and to prepare it from scratch in a commercial setting, students gain valuable skills for employment and home economics. Culturally, Southeast Alaska high school students are adults, and these skills give them something to give back to their communities. The effects are generational, as students share their food, their nutrition knowledge, and their skills with their families of origin, communities, and future families. Good nutrition is a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty— it is indisputably linked to long-term physical and emotional health, as well as education and employment success.

PHS is a small alternative school of choice located in Sitka, Alaska. Founded in 1992, PHS serves youth ages 14-21 at risk of dropping out. Students work toward a high school diploma and to acquire the skills necessary to live a successful life. At any given time, about 35 students attend PHS, but over 50 students pass through our doors each year due to high transiency rates. A majority of PHS students are Alaska Native, and nearly all are eligible for free or reduced lunch, with about half experiencing homelessness and 15% pregnant or parenting.