I had a pretty enjoyable junior high and high school experience.
I went to a sizable school that had just under 4,000 students attending in grades 6th through 12th.
The junior high and high school buildings were separate from each other, but the cafeteria was shared by all. It was a nice facility, and we genuinely had good food offered to us most of the time. I guess I grew up after the age of mystery meat and pizza days during which they served mini, square, “pizzas” that were more fitting for army MREs than a school. My dad attended the school before I did, and he’s the one that claims that the lunch menu used to be terrible, but both me and my dad agree that the air conditioning in the cafeteria has always been over the top. It is just plain frigid in that cafeteria all the time! If you were unlucky enough to only be able to find a seat that was directly below the air vents, you had to eat your lunch very quickly if it was hot. If you carried on a conversation for too long without eating, the A/C would make something that was piping-hot a few moments before lukewarm, or even cold. During my freshman and sophomore years though, there was one upside to that frigid air conditioning. Lunch was right after PE during those two years! We couldn’t wait to walk into the cafeteria and let the cool air wash over us after sweating buckets outside in the warm months! Unfortunately, during the winter, the cafeteria was almost just as cold, as if they didn’t use the heating unit at all! Good thing we did PE in the gym on most days that it was very cold!