The Hidden Cost of Excellence: Food Quality

Ethan Cunningham et al.
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:10:00 PDT

In America, the quality of food made for high school students is subpar. Many studies show that poor food quality can lead to worse academic performance and worse life expectancy. Schools are supposed to have kids prepared for life and perform better. Giving kids food that not only doesn't meet the nutritional requirements needed to excel in school while making sure they're able to have a stronger body during an important development stage in life, but also just tastes bad making kids more apprehensive to going to school fails what parents trusted a school with. Our UN SDG goal is to increase the quality of education throughout schools by addressing the food quality. Improving the nutritional quality of food will help kids focus better during school, allowing them to do better in classes. This will increase the quality of education they get since it will allow them to push themselves further in academics with their body having the ability to go with them. Increasing the quality of food will also help kids enjoy school more since they won't be dreading lunch but rather looking forward to it. This goal will be measured by seeing the overall quality of food at school rated by school students. Seeing what students say will not only give valuable information for IMSA, but will also give a background for how schools can improve their food quality for their students as well. This survey will cover what parts of IMSA food they like, specifically what foods they like to eat. But the main focus will be what is wrong, line length, food types, and nutritional value.