{"id":2337,"date":"2014-06-12T10:48:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T15:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/?p=2337"},"modified":"2017-05-18T11:56:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T16:56:26","slug":"shirley-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/oral-history-project\/shirley-miller\/","title":{"rendered":"Shirley Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interviewee<\/strong>: Shirley Miller\"\"<\/a>
\nInterviewer<\/strong>: Jeffrey Boyce
\nDate<\/strong>: October 12, 2007<\/p>\n

Description<\/strong>: A lifelong Okolona, MS, resident, Shirley Miller has built her career in the same cafeteria she ate her lunch in as a child at Okolona Elementary School.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Boyce<\/strong>: This is Jeffrey Boyce. I am here at the Okolona Elementary School today, October 12, 2007, with Shirley Miller. Thank you so much Shirley for agreeing to share your story with me today.<\/p>\n

Shirley Miller<\/strong>: You’re welcome.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Could you begin by telling me a little bit about yourself, where you were born, where you grew up, and where you went to school?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: I was born here in Okolona, Mississippi, and I went to school at Okolona Elementary School.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: What is your first, earliest recollection of child nutrition, the school lunch program? Did they have school lunch when you were going to elementary school?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes. We came through the cafeteria like it is now, through the line.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Has anything much changed since you were a student?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: No, not that I know of.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So, how did you get involved in child nutrition; how did you start to work in the cafeteria?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: I heard about an opening and I was looking for a job, so I filled out an application and sent it back the same day.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: You were eager.<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes, I needed a job.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: How long have you been working in the cafeteria?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Fourteen years.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: What’s your favorite part about your job?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Serving.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So you like the interaction with the children?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Oh, yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Any special stories about the children?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Well, they just like to see me laugh all the time and I talk to them when they come through the line. I call their names and they say, “Hey Miss Shirley, Hey Miss Shirley. How are you doing?” I like that. The children like the way I treat them.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: What are some of the changes that you’ve seen in the menus in the fourteen years that you’ve been here?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: There are a lot of changes. There is more nutritious food now.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Healthier?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So you do less frying now than you used to?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: What are some of the children’s favorite items; what are some of their favorite menus?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Chicken nuggets, pizza, hotdogs, and hamburgers.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: And french-fries?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Oh, yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: What are some of the biggest challenges in your job? What are some of the hard things? Or maybe there aren’t any. You look like you enjoy your job.<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: There are none to me.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So, have you been in the same kitchen for fourteen years?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: What’s a typical day like? What time do you come in in the morning?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: I’m supposed to be here at 7:15, but I get here a little early.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: How do you start your day; how do you prepare to serve the lunch?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: I come in and I fix the water for the tables, and then I set up my cereal line. And then I set up my line with sausage and biscuit. And then I’m ready for them to come through.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Oh. So you serve breakfast first?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Have you always served breakfast; were they doing that for all of these fourteen years?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: And I guess there’s clean-up after that, and then you have to start getting ready for lunch?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes. We fix the line up for lunch and then send the kids on through.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Do they come in shifts? Does the first grade come first?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: I have the bigger kids on my line. The fourth grade comes first, and then the fifth, and then the sixth.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: How many meals do you serve each day?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Close to four hundred.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Did they have a training program here for the staff when you started?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: The experienced workers show the new people what to do and we just all work together.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: How many people work in your cafeteria?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Seven.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So it’s a small staff.<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: We just got one new girl in.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So you all are training her now?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes. Me!<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So you serve breakfast and lunch then. Are there any snacks during the day?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes, for the four-year-olds.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Oh, you have four-year-olds here?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Yes, we have twenty four-year-olds and three teachers. I fix them a snack in the afternoon, usually juice and a cookie or a cracker.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: So, you get here about 7:15, and what time does your day end?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Two o’clock.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Anything else you’d like to add?<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: That’s about it.<\/p>\n

JB<\/strong>: Well, thank you for sharing your story with me.<\/p>\n

SM<\/strong>: Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interviewee: Shirley Miller Interviewer: Jeffrey Boyce Date: October 12, 2007 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337"}],"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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2337"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6540,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions\/6540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theicn.org\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}