It’s noon and you just got out of a class that wasn’t nearly interesting enough to keep your mind off your grumbling stomach. You head straight to The Diner and toward the California Deli line for your favorite sandwich – the chicken pita. As you satisfy your appetite, you might not realize you have a group of Dining Services interns to thank.

This year, Dining Services has unveiled a host of new meals and initiatives to spice up students’ meals at the dining halls. Some – the Halloween-themed dinner special and some new sandwich options – come from interns who work in the diners and develop new ideas.

Others come from the Dining Services staff, who conduct a weekly meeting to concoct popular creations such as Salad Sensationals and the Cereal Bar, a dining official said. Salad Sensationals give students the option to make their own salad with ingredients such as mixed greens, meat and feta cheese, which are not offered at the permanent salad bar.

“They need to have it every day,” said junior international business major Precious Muhammad.

The meetings have also generated sushi night, an expanded selection of Italian foods and new wraps such as the buffalo chicken wrap. The surge in new ideas for the menus is, in part, a result of the menu committee meeting more frequently than they had in past years. Committee members generate as many ideas as possible to “keep the menu fresh,” said Dining Services director Pat Higgins.

“We think a lot of small changes make a big difference,” Higgins said.

Employees have come up with a wide variety of ideas for this year, including new toasted sandwiches and spicier foods, by listening to student comments and working with other universities to see what is popular among college students in other parts of the country. The cereal bar, for example, grew out of a realization that students enjoy having certain foods available all day instead of just at traditional meal times.

Other initiatives, such as adding toaster ovens in the deli line in the dining halls and a Halloween-themed menu – complete with barbecue-slathered “bat wings,” and stuffed vegetable “monster heads” – came from the interns, who have surveyed students in the dining halls to get a first-hand idea of which students like what kinds of foods.

Most recently, the interns created a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich in honor of professor emeritus Thomas C. Schelling winning the Nobel Prize.

The interns are university students who work behind the scenes doing simple tasks such as writing articles and the tip of the week feature for the Dining Services website. Most of their bright ideas end up in places other than the two dining halls, but some of the ones who made it on the dining hall menu have been well-received, said Sister Maureen Schrimpe, who is the quality coordinator for Dining Services and works with the interns.

The three-week internship is a result of a partnership among Dining Services, the American Dietetic Association internship program and the nutrition and food sciences program at the university, Schrimpe said.

Contact reporter Megan Eckstein ecksteindbk@gmail.com.