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Interviewee:<\/strong> Shirli Self<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer:<\/strong> Jeffrey Boyce<\/span><\/p>\n Date:<\/strong> March 13, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n Location:<\/strong> Institute of Child Nutrition <\/span><\/p>\n Description: <\/span><\/strong>Shirli Self is a school food service manager with more than twenty years of experience, working in both Idaho and Oregon school nutrition programs. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n JB: I\u2019m Jeffrey Boyce and it is March 13, 2019. I\u2019m here at the Institute of Child Nutrition with Shirli Self. Welcome Shirli and thanks for taking the time to talk with me today. <\/p>\n SS: You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n JB: Could we begin by you telling me a little bit about yourself, where you were born and where you grew up?<\/p>\n SS: Ok. I was born in 1959 in a little town up in Idaho, Council, Idaho, about a hundred miles north of Boise. I was born in Council, but I lived in New Meadows, which is a little town a little further up north, and I went to school there until about freshman year of high school, and then we went back to Council, and that\u2019s where I graduated from high school, is Council.<\/p>\n JB: Ok. Was there a lunch or breakfast program?<\/p>\n SS: There was a lunch program, but it wasn\u2019t free or reduced. So I didn\u2019t get to participate very often, but I did once in a while. Even if it was only like forty cents, back then people just didn\u2019t eat a hot lunch, because forty cents was quite a bit of money, if you had four kids and you paid every single day. There was a lunch, and I remember this heaven of a roll, that when you bit into it there was this meat filling inside. And I can still taste that bread and that meat filling after all these years.<\/p>\n JB: Was it like a ground meat?<\/p>\n SS: Yes, it was like a ground meat with sauce and onions and yumminess inside it. It was so good \u2013 I still remember that. <\/p>\n JB: Do you know what it was called?<\/p>\n SS: No I don\u2019t. I was like grade school –<\/p>\n JB: Was it like a Sloppy Joe, but it was all contained?<\/p>\n SS: It was all contained, but it wasn\u2019t barbeque. It was just a yummy, salty meat taste inside this roll. I can say that was my favorite, and I still remember that.<\/p>\n JB: So how did you get involved in the child nutrition profession?<\/p>\n SS: I didn\u2019t choose it, it chose me. I was 30ish years old and looking for something to do, and I had a little boy, and he was in kindergarten, so I thought, \u2018Well I can go sub at the kitchens.\u2019 So I did that for like two months or something, and then it was too hard. You couldn\u2019t get up in the morning and be called as a sub and try to find a babysitter all in one time. And so I put that off for a year. And then I went in 1996 and reapplied, and became full-time, part-time. I had to do a split shift, one hour in the morning, then go home for a while, then come back for another hour and a half. And I started doing dishes and I\u2019d walk in and there\u2019d be a big pile of dishes that the cooks made in the morning. And I remember a few times just walking in to those dishes. They\u2019d be back in their little room having their little coffee break and whatnot, and talking and laughing and having a good time. And I\u2019d walk in and there\u2019d be a big pile of dishes. I thought \u2018I\u2019m not doing this for the rest of my life. This is not going to happen.\u2019 So I started listening to them talking about their morning of their fixing their pancakes or their waffles, and what they\u2019re going to make for lunch, how many they were going to have to serve, and what was going on. So I started listening to all that and gained as much information and knowledge as I could. And then it took about four years and then I got hired on as a full-time, part-time cook. And so I\u2019d work like four hours a day, and then did that for about twelve or thirteen years, maybe 14ish, and then I came on as a full-time employee, where I got benefits and all that stuff, and I haven\u2019t looked back since. And I finally got the job as a manager for Idaho and worked one year there. And then this little job that came up where I\u2019m at now came, and it was another thing that I didn\u2019t choose it, it chose me, because my son lives in Weiser called me and said, \u201cMom, there\u2019s a job at Annex School.\u201d So I called and said, \u201cAre you hiring?\u201d She said, \u201cWell we are. Why?\u201d And I said, \u201cWell, my son told me that you were hiring.\u201d And she said, \u201cWell, we kinda are.\u201d And I thought \u2018What is that kinda are thing?\u2019 So I told her who I was, that I was working at Weiser, and had been by that time for twenty-one years. And she said, \u201cWell, why don\u2019t you come over and fill out an application?\u201d And so I did. I went over and filled out the application and got called back for an interview. Unbeknownst to me they\u2019d already done a round of interviews. When I had made the call that\u2019s why she was like \u2018Well, we kinda are\u2019 because they hadn\u2019t chosen anybody yet. So they chose me, and now I\u2019m there.<\/p>\n JB: Ok. And what\u2019s the name of the town?<\/p>\n SS: It\u2019s not even a town. It\u2019s an area, Annex, and the reason it\u2019s Annex is it\u2019s annex to Weiser, Idaho. And so our eighth graders go to high school there at Weiser in Idaho, but they get educated in Oregon in elementary school.<\/p>\n JB: Oh. That\u2019s interesting.<\/p>\n SS: So there\u2019s no post office or anything. We use Ontario, Oregon\u2019s address.<\/p>\n JB: Ok. Has there been a mentor or anyone who kind of helped you along in the field as your career developed?<\/p>\n SS: Not really a mentor \u2013 I think I just kind of helped myself along \u2013 mentored myself. There were women that came and went, retired and all that , but there was never really anyone that I called and said, \u201cHey, help me with this idea,\u201d or whatever. I just kind of did my own thing.<\/p>\n JB: Do you have a state association there?<\/p>\n SS: Yes.<\/p>\n JB: And do you belong to it?<\/p>\n SS: ISNA, yes, I did Idaho, and now I\u2019m Oregon SNA, yes.<\/p>\n JB: Is there anything unique about Oregon and\/or Idaho regarding the child nutrition programs?<\/p>\n SS: I think what\u2019s so unique is I\u2019ve been up there with these people in the ICN training this week, that have warehouses the size of a city, and I have a back room. I don\u2019t have thousands of students or anything. I\u2019m 93 students. And I don\u2019t have any employees. I\u2019m the only employee in nutrition in my school.<\/p>\n JB: So you\u2019re a one-woman show.<\/p>\n SS: I\u2019m a one-woman show from six to two every day.<\/p>\n JB: And what grades is it you\u2019re serving, those 93 students?<\/p>\n SS: Kindergarten through eight.<\/p>\n JB: Ok. So that\u2019s in Oregon?<\/p>\n SS: That\u2019s in Oregon.<\/p>\n JB: And then they go to high school in Idaho?<\/p>\n SS: They go to high school in Idaho.<\/p>\n JB: Where you used to work?<\/p>\n SS: Where I used to work, yes. And they come to our school in the morning and they get on a bus, and the bus drivers go across the Snake River and right into Idaho and that\u2019s where they go to high school.<\/p>\n JB: How does the funding work for that?<\/p>\n SS: Oregon pays their tuition, because the school where we\u2019re at is closer than Ontario, Oregon, which is a bigger city. There are like 9,000 people there, so they have a high school. But Weiser is closer. It\u2019s like half a mile across the bridge. And the township of Annex has ranches and houses spread around to give us our 93 kids. So they have to be able to go to Idaho and our school has to pay for that.<\/p>\n JB: Interesting, interesting. What\u2019s a typical day like for you, or is there such a thing?<\/p>\n SS: Get up in the morning with the chickens, go in and do what every other lunch lady does, just get ready for breakfast, then get ready for lunch. I have no helpers, so I have student helpers, which is kind of fun. I have the seventh and eighth, and now the sixth; they all of them want to come in and help too, and I pair a sixth grader with a seventh or eighth grader and they come in and they help me serve and clean up and do what our \u2018helper\u2019 would do, sort of like if I had gotten the privilege to hiring somebody to come help me, well I just use the students.<\/p>\n JB: What\u2019s the percentage of your free and reduced?<\/p>\n SS: We\u2019re CEP –<\/p>\n JB: That\u2019s Community -?<\/p>\n SS: Eligibility, so we\u2019re all free. But the year I got there they weren\u2019t, and I think it was a glitch in paperwork or something, so they weren\u2019t CEP that year, but everybody still ate for free, because the superintendent paid for the kids that had to pay, and they were all free. But the reason we are CEP is because of the direct certified kids, and the foster kids, and the migrant worker kids, and all of that. That\u2019s why we qualify.<\/p>\n JB: So what do you do after you get the breakfast done?<\/p>\n SS: I start doing lunch.<\/p>\n JB: Do you do your own menu planning?<\/p>\n SS: I do my own menu planning, my own ordering. Somebody else does the financial part, because we have an Oregon Department of Education that does the payroll and all that after I input the numbers that we feed, like a thousand breakfasts a month, and two thousand lunches, then that all goes to somebody else after I input the information. But I plan my own menus. I go around and ask them \u2013 I do a survey of what they would like to eat.<\/p>\n JB: What are some of their favorites?<\/p>\n SS: Chicken nuggets, pizza, hamburgers. They don\u2019t like homemade stuff. I\u2019m having a heck of a time trying to get them to eat spaghetti and so –<\/p>\n JB: Is that because they don\u2019t get it at home?<\/p>\n SS: I guess they\u2019re used to eating just junk, finger foods. So I started doing instead of spaghetti, I do a thing called goulash. They love it. But it\u2019s just changing the noodles, changing the shape of the noodle.<\/p>\n JB: Whatever works.<\/p>\n SS: Whatever works.<\/p>\n JB: What changes have you seen in child nutrition over the years?<\/p>\n SS: Oh my gosh. Lots. When I first started my very first job after dishwasher was the fry cook. And I would stand in front of these three big baskets and just cook fried all morning long, fries and doughnuts, and we could sell all of that stuff. We had cookies that we sold, and Hostess doughnuts, and pop and candy bars all throughout the day that the kids at the high school \u2013 we only had it at the high school \u2013 but they would come in and buy it all day long. And I didn\u2019t really pay that much attention, but I bet they didn\u2019t really eat much lunch after eating all that candy and stuff. Well that went away. And then the whole grains and the fruits and the vegetables and all that, because when I first started we didn\u2019t have to do any of that stuff. You could basically cook what you wanted to cook.<\/p>\n JB: What are some of the biggest challenges you\u2019ve faced?<\/p>\n SS: One of the things is getting the kids to eat homemade stuff. But I don\u2019t think there have been any really big challenges.<\/p>\n JB: What would you say has been your most significant contribution to child nutrition?<\/p>\n SS: Well, I think just being me. I mean like I was saying, this job picked me for some reason. I don\u2019t know why, but I try to tell everybody that when you\u2019re a lunch lady that\u2019s not the only hat you wear. You\u2019re a nurse, a counselor, a teacher, a grandma. One of the things that I remember is that at Weiser High School there was a blind boy that was there from freshman on to graduating, and he and I became pretty good friends. And he would know every single day that I was going to be in the same spot at the same time with his lunch. And we chatted and talked about what he was going to do after school and stuff. And just about a year ago \u2013 he\u2019s been out of school for probably five or six years now \u2013 he called me and said, \u201cHow are you doing Mrs. Self? I just wanted to let you know that this is X, and I\u2019m doing really good and thinking about getting married.\u201d It was just so cool to hear from him. Then you go out bowling some nights and somebody comes running up to you and you think you know them, but you\u2019re not sure. \u201cDon\u2019t you remember me? I\u2019m so and so and I used to help you in the kitchen. I just saw you across the room and wanted to come say Hi.\u201d That happens a lot, a lot. And so I think just being kind, and some lunch ladies are not that kind. They\u2019re got the old reputation of being haggardy and old and mean. So I try to change that perception.<\/p>\n JB: Do you have any special stories about kids you\u2019ve served or people you\u2019ve worked with over the years? You just mentioned the young man.<\/p>\n SS: That one, and I do have some stories about when I was working over in Idaho at that little school district, I started this thing called Throwback Thursdays. We would get the old plastic trays out that they got served on as elementary kids \u2013 this is high school \u2013 and we would make something homemade that day, on Throwback Thursdays, like spaghetti or chicken noodles, things like that. And then we would use the trays. We had three lines, but we only had the one line that day, and everybody got the same thing, like they used to in the old days, and come through. We\u2019d have firemen, police officers, the mayor, the superintendent, principal, coaches, all on the serving line. And they would be serving them their lunch, and that was SO popular. They didn\u2019t continue it after I left. I don\u2019t know why. The principal and I had gotten together and he said, \u201cI don\u2019t know why you don\u2019t just serve everybody the same thing.\u201d And I said, \u201cWell, how about if we just pick one day a week and do that?\u201d So we started doing that and it was very, very, very popular. It was in the news and everything that we had done that Throwback Thursday. And then over at my new school I started a thing called Grandparents Luncheon. And every year they had a book fair and they used to have two book fairs, but they got cut back to one because they weren\u2019t making enough sales in their book fair. So I got this bright idea to do a Grandparents Luncheon and invite your grandparents to lunch, along with the book fair. So here comes grandma and grandpa to have lunch with the kids, that got dragged down to the gym where the book fair was going on. We sold a thousand dollars of books compared to two or three hundred dollars of books in the year before. So we\u2019re doing that again this year. And it\u2019s actually coming up on the twentieth of March. So that\u2019s just going to keep on continuing. And we do No One Eats Alone Day. That\u2019s kind of a national thing, and we pair our sixth, seventh, and eight graders with the first, second, third, and fourth and fifth graders. They all pair up with a little buddy and the lunch is a little bit staggered, so all the big kids get to go eat lunch early, with the little kids. And they do a picnic style and everybody gets the same thing. I usually do a sack lunch with a trivia card and a little card on there that\u2019s got three questions to ask who you\u2019re eating lunch with and find out a little bit about them. Then they turn them all in and they get a prize for turning in their list of what they found out about the person they\u2019re eating with. The first year I went there I did that and the second year I did it, and they ask me now, \u201cWhen\u2019s No One Eats Alone Day?\u201d Because they kind of like doing that. It\u2019s funny to see an eighth grader with a little kindergarten kid. They\u2019re just chatting away. And quite a bit of them eat all their lunch because they\u2019ve got a partner there with them to talk them into it.<\/p>\n JB: That\u2019s a nice concept. What advice would you give someone who was considering child nutrition as a profession today?<\/p>\n SS: Go for it. If they really, really want to it\u2019s the best job in the world as far as I\u2019m concerned, especially for somebody like me who didn\u2019t have any education, because you can get your education along the way. We have to keep up our continuing education credits and stuff, so if you count up all my continuing education credits along with my high school diploma I\u2019ve got a lot of schooling going on. For twenty-three years of going to classes, and like this week alone I\u2019m getting like thirty-six credits for this class I\u2019m taking. So it\u2019s a good way to do something with your time, get paid for it, and be off when your children are off from school. And like I said, you gain, oh my gosh, every day \u2013 if you don\u2019t mind hugs, hand-written notes, and sometimes snotty noses and cracked knees, tears and problems. Sometimes they\u2019ll come to you and say, \u201cMrs. Self, can you help me with my homework?\u201d \u201cWell, it depends on what grade level it is.\u201d I\u2019ve helped a lot of kids with math and spelling and stuff. Or they had a fight with their sister or their brother and they want to know what to do about it. So as I said, you wear a lot of hats, and I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because I\u2019m a grandma and a mom, but I just love kids. And I think that if you love kids this is the job for you.<\/p>\n JB: Well thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me today.<\/p>\n SS: You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10016"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12422,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10016\/revisions\/12422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}