Students eat lunch in an expanded lunch room at Eisenhower Elementary.

WARSAW — The cafeteria has always been the social hub of most academic worlds. Whether elementary school, high school or college, most students find the ability to escape and relax when the bell rings for lunch.

That’s exactly why Warsaw Community Schools decided it was time to remodel several of their cafeterias. “No student should have to do that,” said Director of Facilities and Operations Jim LeMasters as he talked about students eating in halls and at makeshift tables.

Washington Elementary offer STEM features for students to enjoying during lunch such as pipe that drains water from the roof.

It seems Warsaw Schools have lacked space across the board in its cafeteria for a number of years while its district continues to grow. In the last year and a half, WCS updated four cafeterias in the area with Lincoln’s being completely rebuilt.

With Washington’s advancing goals to provide the most STEM environment for its students, the elementary school incorporated the theme into its cafeteria. Washington’s cafeteria left an open ceiling design to allow kids to see some of the structural integrity of the building as well as the wires that run through for electricity. Along with the open ceiling, Warsaw routed a clear pipe on the wall in the new addition of the cafeteria, allowing students to watch the water be drained from the roof.

Washington added counters that run the length of the wall for students to eat at, helping utilize the space available. Originally, the school intended for students to sit at stools and eat at the counters while having the capability to charge electronics with nearby outlets.

However, the kids didn’t seem to care. LeMaster explained, “The kids would stand there and eat, and we hadn’t bought the stools.” So the school forwent the stools and opted for an innovative “seating” option.

Similarly Eisenhower and Harrison expanded its cafeterias’ as well as installed the countertops “seating.” However, the over 20-year-old schools feature a few additional updates they severely needed, namely storage. After having to store their frozen goods outside in a freezer, the kitchen staff now houses its frozen goods in walk-in freezers in the back. “After years of request from the principals, we went ahead and made (the cafeterias) bigger. We added inside storage to those, and then it almost double the seating,” said LeMaster.

One noticeable difference in all the cafeterias was the noise level. The expanded space allows the students’ voices to travel farther rather than bouncing over and over in a contained space, reducing the noise level “by at least half.”  It was an additional reason for the open ceiling concept for the Washington, which helped trap the noise above the students. According to LeMaster, even the students have noticed a difference in the sound, informing him, “they can now talk to their friends.”

Meanwhile, Lincoln opted to build a new school rather than remodel to cut costs.

With the four projects being finished over the last two years, WCS now looks to the high school’s cafeteria. The plan is to build a new black box at the back of the high school for the drama department, commandeering the current black box for a two-level cafeteria.