Pizza Day is a long standing tradition upheld in schools all over the nation, including WIS. On any given Thursday, one could walk into the WIS Student Center, packed with both middle and high school students forming an ill-defined line, waiting for pizza. Pizza Day is an event that many in the Tregaron community enjoy together. Parent volunteers serve pizza to the students as the profits go towards financial aid. However, this year, WIS will no longer partake in the all-american tradition.
According to Pizza Day organizer and WIS parent Jessica Lerner, Pizza Day will not continue because of a switch in food providers at WIS: “The new vendors found it quite costly for them to do a half service on Thursdays to accommodate the pizza – a service that Sodexo, the former vendor, provided” said Lerner. Another WIS parent and Pizza Day organizer, Ileann Jimenez-Sepulveda, added that “the vendors wanted all four days to get a better rate.”
However, middle schooler Tancredi Mazzei said he was under the impression that the Pizza Day tradition ended because its profits were no longer enough to help the financial aid fund. This turned out to be a common belief amongst the student body due to rumors spreading. Lerner rejects this claim stating that it was a “total misunderstanding” before adding “we make the same amount of money we have all along although the pizza has gotten more expensive and we’ve chosen to keep the price at two dollars. The money issue has nothing to do with how much money we were making.”
While the tradition is over, the WIS administration and parent volunteers are working hard to find a way to incorporate Pizza days into this school year. Some of the options include the new vendors serving pizza as a part of the regular school lunch menu and parents serving pizza on half-days or at certain school events.
Lerner hopes that parents will continue to be involved in pizza day as they are “very happy to be serving the student body. You’ll see that all the volunteers here are smiling”. All in all, Lerner is still sad that Pizza Day will be gone.
Students shared a similar sentiment as Pizza Day seemed to be something that many within the community loved. Seventh-grader Anton Jordan expressed his sadness by stating that pizza days had “great food.” His peer, 8th grader Tancredi Mazzei agrees with him. The love for pizza day is all over Tregaron. Senior and self-proclaimed “biggest spender” on pizza day Sebastian Loko also loves pizza day. He buys an entire box and a drink every pizza day, something that he won’t be able to do next year.
Pizza Day is a tradition that seems to be sorely missed by many in Tregaron community. However, the administration and Pizza Day organizers have created a solution. Pizza Day lovers can look forward to 10 Pizza Days throughout the year which will be replacing certain Grill Days (Fridays).
