When hundreds of hungry high school students descend on you every day, you'd better be ready.

Marilynn Roever faces that dilemma every day. She's been cafeteria manager at Gibault Catholic High School for 15 years.

Roever prepares students for afternoon chemistry or English classes with toasted ravioli, chicken nuggets and healthy stuff.

We sat down with her last week in the Gibault cafeteria.

Question: How many kids do you serve every day?

Answer: We have around 250 students. They all eat at least once a day. If they have more time off, they'll come back in and either get another tray or they'll get something on the a la carte side, either a sandwich or a snack.

Q: How many pounds of food do they go through in a day?

A: If it's chicken nuggets or strips, it could be probably 30 pounds. It might be 40 pounds, any kind of chicken. That's one of our biggest.

Our most favorite lunch is toasted ravioli with bread sticks. You get cheese cubes and sauce and green beans and then a good dessert.

Q: How much toasted ravioli do they go through?

A: Six cases, which would be 60 pounds. That's our biggest tray day, except for Thanksgiving.

Q: Do you have a problem selling healthy foods?

A: I don't think so. Most of them will take the fruit on the tray. We have granola bars and different things that are that are a little healthier than others.

We have candy, but there's very few that overdo it on that. They may buy one a day, but I don't think they're big on it as much. I think they're changing.

Q: Do kids confide in you?

A: They do tell us things. They need somebody to talk to, personal things. You try to say something back to them to make them feel better about what's going on in their life.

Q: Do alums come back to eat?

A: If they come to visit, they always come to eat. The one Thanksgiving meal, which is their favorite, we had 20 alumni come back one year.

Q: What stuff causes the most mess?

A: Raw carrots. They do a lot of throwing of those. They don't have to take them, but there's always going to be some that throw them. The teachers that are in charge of the cafeteria say they do throw raw carrots.

Contact reporter Jim Merkel at 618-344-0264, ext. 138