Learning and lunch

Vicki Scott has made up meals and served them up for Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) students for 39 years.

"I began in Medicine Bow, the year my oldest son, Zack started kindergarten," Scott said. "I started under Shirley Stoner who taught me everything. Shirley was a beautiful person. When I first started, we cooked for 300."

She left Medicine Bow and started working the kitchen in Hanna in 1998. Scott said the school population ebbs and flows, but cooks, on average, for 150 students. Scott said the staff that helps her is invaluable.

"I came over and have always had wonderful girls to work with," Scott said. "They are my piece of mind, they really are. I know no matter what, things are being done. The girls take pride in everything that goes out."

Scott said putting forth healthy eating habits and teaching students about different foods have been goals of the cafeteria.

"The health bar that is put out has so many fresh fruit offerings," Scott said. "You see the little ones have begun with the fruit as their snacks and they all love it."

She said healthy eating has been a concern since she worked under Stoner.

Her favorite time of working with food is when young students start eating food she and the staff have prepared.

"The new kids coming is one of my favorite things to watch. These beautiful little people, who might be missing a front tooth, eating lasagna or slurping spaghetti, giggling at everything," Scott said. "Then each year, I watch them grow and become young, tall people who can look me straight in the eye. I have loved watching them grow up."

She said teaching nutrition has been an objective of all in the cafeteria.

"For instance we ask the kids, why is the strawberry different from fruit?" Scott asked as she gave an example of how the staff teaches. "Did you know watermelon is not a fruit, it is actually a vegetable. Our children learn about food."

The part most people recognize as a fruit on a strawberry plant is actually an expanded receptacle, part of the stem. The plump, red, juicy part is vegetative tissue. The little dots on the surface are the individual fruits. This is why strawberries do not ripen after picking. They cannot, just like any other stem. Think rhubarb.

"We teach, we try to make it fun and we put forth good eating habits," Scott said. "This is a job, that really is a labor involving love."

Scott has eight grandchildren who have been through the CCSD2 system.

"I am quitting this year in year 39 as my youngest grandson started kindergarten," Scott said. "Grandma got to serve him a school lunch."

She is very proud of all her grandchildren and enjoys watching them in school.

Scott's granddaughter Taylar Scott, a sophomore at Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM), has had an outstanding year in sports ... and Scott has enjoyed spectating.

"Taylar is a force of nature, and has such a determined nature," Scott said of her granddaughter. "She is fun to watch, a real force of power to reach goals and then go further."

Scott said watching Taylar and her other grandchildren perform in school is one of the perks she is looking forward to in retirement.

"All my grandchildren are going to be fun to follow," Scott said. "They are all unique."

Besides enjoying her grandchildren's activities, Scott is retiring to focus on her business she shares with her husband, Vernon. Any person who drives through Medicine Bow will see the landmark, Virginian Hotel. Her husband's family has owned it for over a century.

"The future for me has just begun," Scott said. "I'm going to work hard on our business while watching my grandchildren grow up. It is going to be a wonderful time."

She leaves giving advice about lunch programs.

"Food service in these programs should always, always remember it is about the children," Scott said. "It isn't about making a dollar or the bottom line, it about what is best for the children."

Scott said she is leaving knowing that her legacy has always been about what is best for the kids she served.