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Fernandina Beach Middle School cafeteria manager Melissa Adkins accepts the 2023 School Lunch Hero award at a surprise ceremony held Monday afternoon. Submitted photo -
It’s Taco Tuesday, and that means School Lunch Hero Melissa Adkins is in the kitchen serving up a student favorite. Submitted photo
Fernandina Beach Middle School came together to celebrate its cafeteria manager Missy Adkins, who was named a 2023 School Lunch Hero by the Florida Department of Agriculture.
Out of almost 500 applicants, Adkins was one of five winners chosen. On Monday, her family and colleagues put together a special event to surprise her with the award. After donning a superhero cape, Adkins was presented with a trophy, a gift basket and a check for $2,000 as recognition for her going above and beyond the line of lunch duty.
Adkins regularly sets up contests for the students at FBMS. These contests give kids the chance to win awards and learn about the importance of eating healthy and regularly. Many students don’t get three square meals a day, Adkins said, and so she wants to make sure their school lunch and breakfast are foods they want. Just the day after receiving the award, a student came through the breakfast line. She wasn’t sure she wanted any of the options available, but Adkins was determined to make sure she got her breakfast. So, she went in the back and made up a breakfast just for this student.
“If they don’t come in and eat,” Adkins said, “then they’re not going to function. They don’t function right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, whether it’s a Pop Tart or, you know, a full-blown breakfast, either way.”
But it’s not just the students (who call out and congratulate Adkins in the hallway as she passes) that she’s mindful of.
“We didn’t have many staff members that were eating on our staffline,” FBMS Principal Anna Crawford said. “Then, it was just a couple days of (Adkins) being here, and you started to see the staff come in and start to eat. It felt like they were happier.”
Crawford said she saw more teachers leaving their classrooms during lunchtime, coming out to enjoy the group environment and good food now available to staff. As students and teachers eat, Adkins makes the rounds, making sure everyone is enjoying their food and asking for recommendations for future menus.
“Yes, Ms. Adkins has improved our meal program at FBMS, and we have observed her leadership on our campus, but the effort she puts into caring for our students and staff is truly outstanding,” Crawford wrote when recommending Adkins for the award. “She checks in with us as we go through the serving lines, asks about our families, knows which students eat all their lunch and asks for more. And, when she doesn’t see a staff member go through the serving line that usually eats, she will put a meal in a box and deliver it! … Ms. Adkins is truly in a league of her own.”
Though she works at FBMS, Adkins lives in Hilliard. She drives past 15 schools every morning before arriving at FBMS at 6 a.m. Once there, she immediately gets to work, doing extra prep work so her team has it easier once they get in.
Her favorite part, she says, is the kids.
“Everything about them. That’s what our job is, is for the kids,” she said. “You have kids who come in and this is their only hot meal, right? … They’ll see something that makes their eyes light up, and that makes you feel good.”
The Florida Department of Agriculture celebrates School Lunch Heroes every year with School Lunch Hero Week and the naming of Florida schools’ Lunch Heroes.
hdorman@fbnewsleader.com
