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Kennedie Jamison, a junior at Martin High School, helped create the Cajun chicken alfredo recipe that will be served in cafeterias across Arlington ISD. Parents and students sampled the dish, and other recipes from the By Students 4 Students program, at the Taste of Arlington ISD event July 30, 2024, at Seguin High School. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)
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When students walk into a cafeteria, they want two things from their school lunch, said Kennedie Jamison, a junior at Martin High School: for it to be filling and good.

That’s why, when Kennedie got the chance to create a recipe for Arlington ISD’s school menus, she made chicken alfredo, putting a Cajun spin on one of her favorite dishes. 

For the 2024-25 school year, the Cajun chicken alfredo will be served across Arlington ISD campuses as part of the district’s By Students 4 Students program, which gives students a voice in making their school lunches.

Kennedie’s dish is one in the latest batch of student-made recipes entering cafeterias. Last spring, the chicken alfredo was a winner of the district’s third annual taste competition, where high school culinary students compete against each other for a spot on school menus.

Student-made dishes introduced during the 2023-24 school year included chicken and waffles, a blackened chicken mozzarella sub and fried rice.

In other districts, school lunches probably aren’t thought of as something parents and children line up for, said David Lewis, executive director of Arlington ISD’s Food and Nutrition Services. But other districts don’t have the By Students 4 Students program.

The district’s first Taste of Arlington ISD event July 30 saw hundreds of Arlington families flocking for free samples of Kennedie’s chicken alfredo and other winning dishes, like barbecue chicken sandwiches and calzones.

Samples of a student-made barbecue chicken sandwich sit out at the Taste of Arlington ISD event July 30, 2024, at Seguin High School. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

“It’s amazing. I’m getting to help out my age, my background, my city,” Kennedie said. “I get to make school lunches a good experience for other people.”

Other school lunch options — nachos, lasagna, hamburgers — still reflect student voices, Lewis said.

When the school district considers which food companies to buy meals from, classes take field trips to the Food and Nutrition Center to survey potential ingredients. The student feedback factors into which companies are included in the next year’s menu. 

The process is not the most convenient, Lewis admitted. Two guarantees make it worth it: Students know they’ve had a hand in making their menu, and they know they’ll like the food that will be on offer.

In 2023, the By Students 4 Students program expanded to include district alumni. 

The owners of Prince Lebanese Grill, a Mediterranean restaurant in downtown Arlington, were involved with training students as part of the district’s culinary program. So when students requested Mediterranean meals, Lewis called them, said Aziz Francis Kobty, a co-owner of the restaurant.

The partnership put Prince Lebanese-inspired gyros and wings in cafeterias, with Kobty supplying schools with his own signature seasoning.

“For a kid to come in and see a shawarma-flavored food item, or a gyro-inspired item, it’s breaking barriers deep in the heart of Texas,” Kobty said. “That’s not what you expect you would see on a school lunch menu.”

Navigating Prince Lebanese recipes around federal nutrition regulations, which limit sodium and sugar, was difficult, he said. Kobty thought the process would take a few days, but it turned into multiple months of experimenting with seasonings and veggies to nail down the best mix.

Eventually, he managed. Swap the pita bread out with whole wheat rolls, mix some squashed zucchini with the brown rice, and they’re cooking some of the most popular meals of the year.

Roman Williams, 9 months old, eats pieces of a gyro inspired by Prince Lebanese Grill at the Taste of Arlington ISD event July 30, 2024, at Seguin High School. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

“We take small things for granted,” Kobty said. “Like, it’s just a school lunch, right? But for a lot of kids, this is their only hot meal of the day.”

Around 78% of Arlington ISD students qualify for free or reduced lunches, Lewis said.

Lewis started the program in 2018 after eating lunch with a group of fifth graders in their cafeteria. They were fascinated by the district’s kitchen where ingredients are tested, he said.

Distributing 8.4 million meals to over 70 campuses is an impressive feat, Lewis said, so it made sense to give 10-year-olds a part in it.

“When you are a part of building something, it makes you more proud of it,” Kobty said. “So we’ve seen that the students are more proud.”

Kennedie is proud of her Cajun chicken alfredo, she said. More importantly, she’s excited she’ll get to taste it throughout the entirety of her senior year.

Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.