One of the schools we are following on Instagram seems to often have food trucks come after study hall.
Well, that’s called free enterprise. 
A bit different from the school providing (albeit for 60K a year) free sundaes.
Actually, It seems the school is paying for the trucks. It looks like they do a lot of “whole school” feeds as well as dorm feeds. They seem to really be stepping up the food offerings. New food service, a snack bar on campus run by a chef brought in from NOLA, and a culinary option during sports block.
Ours has food trucks (paid by school ) come in during exam week. They used to have local parents bake cookies so they could put a bag of homemade study treats in everyone’s mailbox. Not sure if they still do this.
A nutritionist friend regularly ranted about celebrating and comforting with food…
But the kids seem to enjoy the break from the routine.
Interesting. Not sure that’s the best use of $$, but OK.
What schools are these with food trucks?
George School brings in food trucks on a couple of special occasions (including study week). And having used one myself for an event at my home, it’s surprisingly economical.
@skieurope , I suspect that at the time of day that they are catering to students, it’s better business for the trucks than they would be getting elsewhere so they cut a nice deal. In other words, a fraction of what you or I would pay if we bought from this truck at a street fair, for example.
My son went to Lawrenceville, and they are known for house culture. A bi-weekly “feed” is one of the things that the housemasters love to promote house unity. The feeds were often led by a ‘house-parent’ – usually parents of one of the prefects. The house parent asked for volunteers.
This would often involve bringing food to the campus at about 10 pm on a Saturday night and setting up. We volunteered once or twice a year to do a feed, and I found it to be a good way to meet my son’s friends and housemates. We ended up inviting several of his international friends to our house for breaks. He had friends from diverse countries: Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, etc. Fortunately we were close enough to drive and visit the campus. But there are parents that live on the other side of the world, and can’t visit. In these cases, the Housemasters will typically order a bunch of pizzas. During finals, the house parent would often ask for breakfast feeds: typically bagels, donuts, etc.
The dining hall at Lville would open for dinner at 5:30, and my son would often finish at 6:00 pm. So by 10 pm he was often hungry again. Without the feeds, I’m not sure what he would have done…probably eaten a bunch of junk food or ordered take out. But at least with the feeds, I was sure that the family who was hosting would typically send healthy options.
We visited a bunch of boarding schools during the application process, and I believe several others have a similar system: Deerfield for sure, but I think also at Andover and Exeter. So this is not that uncommon.
I know it’s paid for by our tuition $$, but I do enjoy the “parent feeds” when they put out a buffet at a football or lacrosse game.
My kid’s school also has “free” food trucks occasionally-at opening weekend, a random Sat night, etc.
@carpoolingma , we live in an area with great food truck options! Always a treat.
Wow, I have never heard of this. My kid’s a pretty healthy eater so even the ice cream was a nice to have rather than a binge thing. I do wish that dinner hours were longer. It can be tough to learn to eat early and also for kids who would rather be doing something else, it’s nice to have a longer slot. That said, I can understand why they want to keep it short. The food trucks seem fine. The “feeds” seem like promoting bad eating in conjunction with hard core studying not for everyone but I guess it’s good for community. I do love the parent “feeds” during various weekends and happenings.
I’m over it now, but every time I would pick up my daughter from school I’d want to know what’s for dinner. I would sometimes look up the menu beforehand!
Do any schools offer meditation or yoga sessions at night instead of dorm feeds? I hear MX does something like this during the day for stress relief.
I think this is a yoga option at George, (in addition to Meeting for Worship, which is a form of mindfulness and not optional and year round.) There are sometimes therapy animals during study week - always a fave.
Dorm feeds at Groton just depend on the faculty member. Some are known for always coming through, while others limit feeds to special occasions (or never). One of my favorite affiliates always brought grapes and Oreos. A classic.
One of my favorite pics our of son was taken by another cadet his sophomore year when West Point brought in some therapy animals for stress relief (not sure if this was a one-off or if it’s a regular thing). He’s in uniform holding a large bunny and has the goofiest, happy smile on his face. He just looks so young, and I can see his thought balloon, “Look, Mom! I have a bunny!” What makes the picture more funny is the ton of other uniformed cadets in the background holding puppies, kitties, bunnies, or petting larger animals. It’s clear they’re having a blast, but the uniforms are so incongruous. It looks like Army Day at a petting zoo.
@ChoatieMom , can’t love your post enough. Great image.