Just as Dr. Evil had Mini-Me and Bikini Bottom was terrorized by Plankton, Hagerty has added a miniature sidekick to the lunch game: the new-look chocolate cookies. In order to comply with USDA requirements, the cafeteria has dramatically reduced the size of the cookies, leaving many students enraged.

“A great school relies on great things,” senior Bradley Ballew said. “If you shrink them down, that’s dumb. No one has ever said ‘man, I could really go for a mini-chips-a-hoy right now.’ They want a big cookie. This whole thing is ridiculous.”

Despite what many students may think, this was not the fault of the lunch ladies or principal Mary Williams. Due to Michelle Obama’s new nutrition program, the USDA now limits the amount of sodium and changes have been made to include better chicken products and wholegrain products.

“The changes happened because of nutritional value. The government and the USDA put out a new nutritional value that we have to follow in order to comply with the government regulations and rules for the new lunch menus,” cafeteria manager Erin Basilo said. “They’re still just as good, they’re still just as yummy, they’re just a little bit smaller.”

While the cafeteria did reduce the price along with the reduction in cookie size, many students feel as it is not enough. Cookies are now 25 cents cheaper while the cookie itself is less than half of its original size, and with students refusing to buy the new cookies, the school may very well lose money in the process as well as the students’ satisfaction.

photo by Angel Norris
“Being at school is hard enough,” junior Alicia Tomberlin said. “Not having decent cookies makes it even worse.”